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HISTORY 



Of the 



AMERICAN BEVOLUTIflN. 



f IRST PUBLISHED IN LONDON UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCB 

OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL 

KNOWLEDGE. 



IMPROVED WITH 

MAPS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 



REVISED AND ENLARGED, 



By Rev. J. L. BLAKE, D. D. 

ACTTHOR OF " SKETCHES OF AMERICAIT HISTORY.' 



^/ 



HARFER^'^^SS^^VHERS/ PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET, NEW YORK. 



;^\:i 



/*J \ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and forty -seven, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern Distiict 
of New York. 









ADVERTISEMENT. 



It is stated, on the title page, that this work was first 
published in London under the superintendence of the 
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Such 
is its character for impartiality and accuracy and 
correct diction, that several editions of it have been 
published in this country without alteration. In the 
present edition, where more minute details were judged 
desirable, additions have been made which amount to 
about one fifth of the whole volume. These additions 
are partly incorporated into the text, and are partly in 
the form of notes. The pictorial illustrations will also 
be esteemed a great improvement, whether it is to be 
used as a class-book for study in schools, or as a read- 
ing book in families. The distinctive merits of the 
original work were presented, in the first American 
edition, published at Boston, 1832, under the following 
classification. 

First — It is the most brief, concise, and distinct nar- 
rative of the principal events of the American Revolu- 
tion, known to exist. 

Second — It possesses an uninterrupted continuity of 
interest from the first to the last, without embellishment 
and with no other alteration than a plain recital of his- 
torical facts. 

Third — It communicates facts in which persons of 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

all ages have an interest, in a style simple enough to 
satisfy the young, and substantial enough to gratify the 
mature and cultivated. 

Fourth — The facts are collected and published under 
the sanction of a society composed of men most emi- 
nent for their learning and station among every class 
of the citizens of Great Britain, of whom Mr. Brougham, 
the Lord Chancellor, was chairman, and therefore to 
them no undue partiality for the cause of this country 
during the struggle for independence can be imputed. 

Fifth — Although the occasion was one of the most 
justifiable for war that ever has or can arise, and the 
contest was continued by high and honorable minds 
under the severest trials of disappointment, self-denial, 
and suffering, (the surest tests of principle,) still the 
detail of devastation, murder, and personal revenge is 
sufficiently conspicuous throughout the whole, to give 
the contest the peculiar malignity of a civil war, and to 
make the young and the retiecting miftd shudder even 
at what may be termed a glonoy-s var. 

New York, October, 1843. 



CONTENTS. 



rage. 

Settlement of British America. - - - 7 

War of Seventeen Hundred and Fifty-six. - 14 
Resolution of the House of Commons, 10th of 

March, 1764 19 

Stamp-act, March 22d, 1765. - - - - 23 

Repeal of the Stamp-act, 10th of March, 1766. 29 

New Attempt at Taxation. _ - - - 29 

Petition and Remonstrance, 1773. - - - 45 
Boston Port-act, and Repeal of the Charter of 

Massachusetts. ------ 55 

Removal of the Seat of Government from Boston. 68 
First Acts of the Assembly at Concord. - - 71 
Opening of Congress at Philadelphia. - - 76 
Address of the House of Commons, 9th Feb. 1775. 80 
Affair at Lexington, 19th of April, 1775. - 92 
Battle of Bunker Hill, 16th of June, 1775. - 96. 
Union of the Thirteen Provinces. Hancock ap- 
pointed President, and Washington Com- 
mander-in-chief. ----- 101 

Invasion of Canada. Death of Montgomery. - 105 

Evacuation of Boston, March 17th, 1776. - 108 

Declaration of Independence, 4th of July, 1776. 116 

Capture of Long Island, 26th of August, 1776. 128 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page 

Evacuation of New York, 1st of September, 1776. 132 

Battle of Trenton, 28th of December, 1776. - 135 

Capture of Philadelphia, 26th of September, 1776. 142 

Burgoyne's Expedition. - - - - 146 

Failure of Burgoyne. 153 

Convention of Saratoga, 13th of October, 1777. 161 

Treaty with France, 6th of February, 1778. - 164 

Rejection of Lord North's Overtures, June, 1778. 169 

Arrival of the French Fleet 180 

Campaign of 1779. 184 

Siege and Capture of Charleston, May 12, 1780. 193 

Defeat of Gates by Cornwallis, 15th of Aug. 1780. 198 

Arrival of the French under Rochambeau. - 208 

Treason of Arnold, and Death of Andre. - 212 

Campaign of 1781. Defeat of Greene by Lord 

Cornwallis 221 

Campaign of 1781 continued. Defeat of Lord 

Rawdon by General Greene. - - - 228 
Further Events of the Campaign. Preparations 

for the Siege of New York. - - - 235 

Siege of Yorktown. Surrender of Cornwallis. - 241 

Provisional Treaty of Peace. _ - - 245 

Conclusion. ... ... 249 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



SECTION L 



SETTLEMENT OF BRITISH AMERICA. 

The discovery of the western hemisphere, 
efFecred by the bold and persevering genius 
of Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492, 
gave a new impulse to European activity ; 
and the splendid conquests of the Spaniards 
in the West Indies, and in South America, 
excited the emulation of the other maritime 
powers of Christendom. Our ancestors were 
not dilatory in their endeavors to enter upon 
this new path to glory and wealth ; for we 
find that, in the year 1498, John Cabot, by 
virtue of a commission from Henry VII., took 
formal possession, in the name of that mon- 
arch, of a considerable portion of the conti- 
nent of North America. 

No attempt, however, was made to estab- 
lish a colony in that country till the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, when Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert and Sir Walter Raleigh, in the years 
1578 and 1584, formed settlements there, 



8 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

which were soon wasted by famine, by dis- 
ease, and by the arrows of the natives, who, 
as heathens, were counted as nothing in the 
royal grants under which the adventurers 
acted. The first permanent British settlement 
was established in the reign of King James 
L, under whose auspices a company of adven- 
turers built Jamestown, on the northern side 
of James river. This colony, however, con- 
tinued for a long time in a feeble state. It 
was founded A. D. 1 607 ; and, though it re- 
ceived continual accessions of new settlers, its 
population, in the year 1670, amounted to no 
more than 40,000 souls. 

The Virginian colonists were prompted to 
quit their native country by the hope of bet- 
tering their temporal condition. A higher 
motive gave rise to the colonization of the 
northern portion of the new continent. After 
the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in the 
reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans had suffered 
grievous persecution ; to escape from which 
a small body of them had fled, in the year 
1606, into Holland. Unwilling, however, en- 
tirely to sever themselves from the land which 
gave them birth, they applied to their sover- 
eign. King James, beseeching him to permit 
them to establish themselves in his North 
American dominions, in the full exercise of 
liberty in religious matters. 

With this their request, in its full extent, 
James refused to comply. All that they could 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



9 



obtain from him was a promise that he would 
connive at their infringements of the statutes, 
the operation of whicli had driven them into 
voluntary exile. On the faith of the royal 
word to this effect, they embarked, to the 
number of 101, in the month of September, 
1620, and arriving at Cape Cod in the follow- 
ing November, soon afterwards fixed them- 
selves in a place of settlement which they 
called New Plymouth, and which, it must be 
observed to their honor, they purchased from 
the natives. 




Landing of the Fathers. 

The whole number of emigrants was 101, 
viz. : 41 men, 18 women, and the rest were 



10 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

children and servants, of whom 40 died with- 
in three months from the day of their landing. 

Dreadful were the difficulties with which 
this handful of religionists had to struggle ; 
landing as they did in the depth of wdnter, 
and exposed as they were, notwithstanding 
their conciliatory disposition, to the hostility 
of the natives. But, supported by the princi- 
ples of piety, and determined at any price to 
purchase religious freedom, they maintained 
their ground ; and being from time to time 
recruited by new migrations of their persecu- 
ted brethren, they, by degrees, spread them- 
selves over the province of Massachusetts. 

It too often happens that religion produces 
dissension, and that those w^ho have suffered 
persecution, when they have obtained power, 
become persecutors themselves. This was 
the case with the principal inhabitants of the 
colony of Massachusetts. Falling into the 
common error of the times, in thinking that 
uniformity of sentiment on the subject of re- 
ligious doctrines was required by the truth of 
the gospel, and by a regard to the peace and 
welfare of society, they established it as a 
rule of government, " that no man should be 
admitted to the freedom of their body politic, 
but such as w^ere members of some of their 
churches ;'* and they afterw^ards passed a 
resolution, " that none but such should share 
in the administration of civil government, or 
have a voice in any election." 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 11 

Tn this instance, however, as in many oth- 
ers, evil was productive of good. Tiie dis- 
contented sectarians sought other settlements, 
and founded the colonies of Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. 

While the once persecuted Protestants thus 
gave a sad proof that their sufferings had not 
taught them mercy, it was reserved for a 
Roman Catholic nobleman to give to the new 
world a striking example of this happy docili- 
ty. In the year 1632, Lord Baltimore obtain- 
ed a charter for a new colony, the first settlers 
of which consisted chiefly of Roman Catholic 
gentlemen ; and, having established his band 
of emigrants in Maryland, he so exerted his 
influence with the members of the assembly 
of the new province, that they laid it down 
as a fundamental principle of their constitu- 
tion, " that no persons professing to believe in 
Christ Jesus should be molested in respect of 
their religion, or in the free exercise thereof." 
His lordship's enlightened policy was eminent- 
ly successful. Under the nurture of religious 
liberty, his infant settlement soon advanced 
rapidly towards maturity. 

In the reign of Charles II., royal charters 
of the most liberal tenor were granted to Con- 
necticut, Rhode Island, and Providence Plan- 
tations ; and patents were also granted to 
Lord Clarendon and the Duke of York, be- 
stowing on the former a right to form planta- 
tions in the district now comprehending North 



12 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and South Carolina and Georgia, and dele- 
gating to the latter the same right as respect- 
ing New York and New Jersey ; and finally, 
a patent was issued, authorizing the celebra- 
ted William Penn to colonize Pennsylvania 
and Delaware. 

The English emigrants who settled in North 
America were a class of people very different 
from the Spaniards, who subdued the southern 
continent. They did not leave their native 
shores for the purpose of invading and plun- 
dering rich provinces and wealthy cities ; but 
they sought prosperity by the painful arts of 
industry and economy. Purchasing land from 
the aborigines, they at first devoted themselves 
to the culture of the soil ; and in process of 
time, those who continued to reside on the 
sea-shore, or on the banks of navigable rivers, 
addicted themselves to commerce. Their suc- 
cess in this pursuit is evinced by the fact, that 
though ill the year 1704 the imports of the 
province of Pennsylvania amounted only to 
£11,499 sterling, in 1772 they were increased 
to the value of £507,909, and in the same year 
the whole of the exports from Great Brit- 
ain to her North American colonies amount- 
ed to upwards of £6,000,000 sterling. 

Though each colony had its separate consti- 
tution, the principles of freedom pervaded 
them all. In some provinces the governors 
and the magistrates were elected by the peo- 
ple ; and in those, the governors and chief 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 13 

officers of which were appointed by the 
crown, the power of these functionaries was 
Controlled by assemblies, the members of 
which were chosen by the freeholders, who 
were too numerous to be bribed, and too in- 
dependent in their circumstances to be swayed 
by influence. Throughout the whole of the 
Union there was not found a single proprietor 
of a borough, nor an interest to nurture the 
principles of bigotry and passive obedience. 

When the first settlers took possession of the 
country, they brought with them all the rights 
of Englishmen, and those rights they were 
jealous in maintaining. Their interior con- 
cerns were regulated by their representatives 
in assembly ; but in consideration of their 
origin, and of the protection against foreign 
enemies, which they received from the mother 
country, they cheerfully submitted to the ob- 
ligation of exclusively trading with her, and 
of being bound by all the laws touching com- 
merce, which might be passed by the British 
parliament. The limits of the authority of 
parliament they were not critical in canvass- 
ing, with one exception — namely, claiming to 
be independent of that body in the matter of 
internal taxation. They maintained, con- 
formably to one of the most established 
principles of the British constitution, that an 
assembly in which they were not repre- 
sented had no right to burden them with im- 
posts. 

2 



14 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

The leading element in the early colonial 
character, and perhaps the strongest in giving 
it its peculiar cast of austerity and elevatioi^ 
was religious enthusiasm. Many believed 
themselves under the immediate direction of 
heaven. The stern traits of the English 
Puritans, so remarkable in the civil wars of 
the first Charles, and under the common- 
wealth, were strong in the pilgrims of Ply 
mouth Rock. These traits of character, in 
their descendants, under the benign influence 
of a better knowledge and wider freedom, are 
much softened, but still exist ; and, under cir- 
cumstances favorable to their development, 
stand forth in great prominence. 



SECTION II. 

WAR OF SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX. 

The growing power of the British colonies 
in America was strikingly evinced in the year 
1745, when a force of 5,000 men, raised and 
equipped by the single state of Massachu- 
setts, and acting in concert with a British 
armament from the West Indies, took Louis- 
bourg from the French. The success of this 
expedition so much excited the jealousy of 
the government of France, that, after the 
termination of the war in which Louisbourg 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 15 

was taken, they dispossessed the Ohio Com- 
pany of the settlements which it had formed 
*on the river of that name, alleging that the 
territory in question was part of the domin- 
ions of his Most Christian Majesty. 

It was on this occasion that George Wash- 
in,2:ton, then a major in the Virginian militia, 
first drew his sword in hostility. At the 
head of three hundred men he defeated a 
party of French; but being afterwards at- 
tacked by a superior force, he was obliged 
to surrender, receiving, however, honorable 
terms of capitulation. 

A war with France now seeming inevita- 
ble, a general meeting of the governors and 
leading members of the provincial asserpblies 
was held at Albany, in the state of New 
York. This meeting proposed, as the result 
of its deliberations, "that a grand council 
should be formed, of members to be chosen 
by the provincial assemblies ; which council, 
together v\^ith a governor to be appointed by 
the crown, should be authorized to make gen- 
eral laws, and also to raise money from all 
the colonies, for their common defence. 

The British government seem to have view- 
ed this proposal with jealousy, as a step 
towards independence. They disapproved of 
the projected mode of the election of the 
members of the council ; nor were they sat- 
isfied with the plan of raising the requisite 
supplies by acts of the colonial legislatures •; 



16 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and they proposed that "the governors of all 
the colonies, attended by one or two members 
of their respective councils, should, from time 
to time, concert measures for the whole colo- 
nies ; erect forts and raise troops, with a pow- 
er to draw upon the British treasury in the 
first instance ; but to be ultimately reimbursed 
by a tax to be laid on the colonies by act of 
parliament." 

This counter proposal was strenuously op- 
posed by the colonists, who refused to trust 
their interests to governors and members of 
councils, since almost the whole of the former, 
and the great majority of the latter, were 
nominated by the crown. As to the plan of 
raising taxes in the colonies by the authority 
of the British parliament, they rejected it in 
the most peremptory manner. In the discus- 
sions which took place on this occasion, Dr. 
Franklin took an active part, and in a letter 
to Mr. Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, as 
Dr. Ramsay observes, " he anticipated the 
substance of a controversy which for twenty 
years employed the pens, tongues, and swords 
of both countries." 

In his correspondence with the governor, 
the American patriot intimated his apprehen- 
sion, that excluding the people from all share 
in the choice of the grand council, would give 
extreme dissatisfaction, as well as the taxing 
them by act of parliament, where they have 
no representation. " It is," observes he, with 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 17 

equal candor and good sense — "it is very 
possible that this general government might 
be as well and faithfully administered with- 
out the people as with them ; but where 
heavy burdens are to be laid upon them, it 
has been found useful to make it, as much as 
possible, their own act ; for they bear better, 
when they have, or think they have, some 
share in the direction ; and when any public 
measures are generally grievous, or even dis- 
tasteful to the people, the wheels of govern- 
ment move more heavily." 

On the subject of the general characters of 
the governors of the colonies, to whom it was 
thus intended to delegate extraordinary pow- 
ers. Dr. Franklin thus expressed himself, in 
terms well worthy the attention of all minis- 
ters who are invested with the appointment 
of such functionaries ; — " Governors often 
come to the colonies merely to make fortunes, 
"with which they intend to return to Britain ; 
are not always men of the best abilities or in- 
tegrity ; have many of them no estates here, 
nor any natural connection with us, that 
should make them heartily concerned for our 
welfare ; and might possibly be fond of rais- 
ing and keeping up more forces than neces- 
sary, from the profits accruing to themselves, 
and to make provision for their friends and 
dependants." 

The opposition which their project experi- 

ienced induced the British government to with- 

2* 



18 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

draw it, and the colonies and the mother coun- 
try for some time longer acted together in 
union and harmony. The consequence of 
this was, that under the vigorous administra- 
tion of Mr. Pitt, the war, begun in 1756, was 
terminated by a treaty signed in 1763 ; ac- 
cording to the articles of which, Canada was 
ceded to great Britain by France, and the two 
Floridas by Spain. 

The North American colonies, in general, 
entered into the war of 1756 with such zeal, 
that some of them advanced funds for its 
prosecution to a greater amount than the 
quota which had been demanded of them by 
the British government. Others of them, how- 
ever, the state of Maryland for instance, had, 
from local and accidental causes neglected to 
contribute their share to the requisite sup- 
plies. This circumstance, in all probability, 
led British statesmen to wish to establish a 
system, by means of which the resources of 
the colonies might be made available without 
the necessity of the concurrence of their local 
legislatures. 

Accordingly, Mr. Pitt is said to have told 
Dr. Franklin that, " when the war closed, if 
he should be in the ministry, he would take 
measures to prevent the colonies from having 
a power to refuse or delay the supplies which 
might be wanting for national purposes." 
This declaration is certainly at variance with 
the doctrines which Mr. Pitt maintained when 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 19 

the question of colonial taxation was after- 
wards discussed in parliament. But at the 
latter period that great statesman was no 
longer minister ; and he is not the only poli- 
tician who has held different language when 
in and when out of power. 



SECTION TIL 

EESOLUTIONS OP THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, TENTH OP 
MARCH, 1764. 

Whatever might be the motives of their 
conduct, the British ministry, in the year 1764, 
began to manifest a narrow and jealous policy 
towards the North American colonies. For a 
long series of years the commerce of the east- 
ern states had been most beneficially extended 
to the Spanish and French colonies ; to which 
they transported great quantities of British 
manufactures, the profits on the sale of which 
were divided between themselves and their 
correspondents in the mother country. This 
course of trade, though not repugnant to the 
spirit of the navigation laws, was contrary to 
their letter. 

Of this the British ministry took advantage ; 
and by the activity of their revenue cutters, 
they put a stop to the traffic in question, to 



20 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the detriment and ruin of many merchants, 
not onlv in America, but also in Great Britain. 

ml ' 

In September, 1764, indeed, they caused an 
act to be passed, authorizing the trade be- 
tween the North Americans and the French 
and Spanish colonies, but loading it with such 
duties as amounted to a prohibition, and pre- 
scribing that all offenders against the act 
should be prosecuted in the Court of Admiral- 
ty, where they were deprived of a trial by 
jury. 

As an accumulation of the grievances which 
the colonists felt from this act, its preamble 
contained the following words of fearful 
omen : " Whereas it is just and necessary that 
a revenue be raised in America for defraying 
the expenses of defending, protecting, and 
securing the same, we, the Commons, &c., 
towards raising the same, give and grant 
unto your Majesty," &c. 

It is believed by competent judges that the 
colonists, however disposed to resent this en- 
croachment on their constitutional rights, 
would have submitted without resistance to 
the provisions of the act as regulations of 
trade and commerce. But the ministry soon 
took a bolder step, by proceeding to impose a 
direct internal tax upon the colonies by au- 
thority of parliament. This measure was vin- 
dicated on the following grounds, that the 
pressure of the payment of the interest of the 
national debt weighed so heavily on the Brit- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 21 

isli community, that it was expedient that by 
every proper means this burden should be 
lightened ; that a considerable portion of this 
debt had been contracted in the furnishing of 
supplies for tlie defence of the North Ameri- 
can colonies ; that it was just and reasonable 
that those colonies should contribute their 
proportion towards its liquidation ; and that 
the authority of parliament was competent to 
bind them so to do. 

The idea of relieving the public burdens 
by the taxation of distant colonies was, of 
course, very popular throughout the British 
nation ; and so little was the right of parlia- 
ment to impose such taxation at first question- 
ed in Britain, that on the 10th of March, 1764, 
a resolution to the following effect passed the 
House of Commons, without any remark — 
*• That towards furthej* defraying the said ex- 
penses, it may be proper to charge certain 
stamp duties in the said colonies and planta- 
tions." Nothing, however, was immediately 
done in pursuance of this resolution ; as min- 
isters were in hopes that the apprehension of 
the passing of an act founded on it would in- 
duce the colonists to raise a sum equivalent 
to the expected produce of such act, by bills 
passed in their respective legislative assem- 
blies: but in these hopes they were disap- 
pointed- 

Wheii intelligence of the resolution for 
laying a tax on stamps arrived in America, 



22 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the colonists were filled with alarm and in- 
dignation. They declared internal taxation 
of the colonies by the authority of parliament 
to be an innovation and an infringement on 
their rights and liberties. If parliament was 
authorized to levy one tax upon them, it was 
authorized to levy a thousand. Where, then, 
was the security of their property, or what 
protection could they expect for their dearest 
interests, from a body of men who were ig- 
norant of their circumstances ; between whom 
and themselves there was no bond of sympa- 
thy, and who, indeed, had a direct interest in 
removing the weight of taxation from their 
own shoulders to those of the colonists ? They 
were entitled, they affirmed, to all the rights 
of British subjects, of which the most valua- 
ble was exemption from all taxes, save those 
which should be imposed upon them by their 
own freely chosen and responsible represen 
tatives. Influenced by the feelings and mo- 
tives implied in these declarations, instead of 
passing tax bills, they voted petitions and 
remonstrances to parliament and to the 
throne. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 23 

SECTION IV. 

STAMP-ACT, MARCH 22, 1765. 

The supplications and complaints of the 
colonists were disregarded. In the month of 
March, 1765, a bill for laying a duty on stamps 
in America was brought into the House of 
Commons by Mr. Grenville. This bill was 
supported by Mr. Charles Townsend, who is 
reported to have concluded his speech in its 
favor, in the following words : — " And now 
will these Americans — children planted by 
our care, nourished up by our indulgence, till 
they are grown to a degree of strength and 
opulence, and protected by our arms — will 
they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve 
us from the heavy weight of that burden 
which we lie under ?" 

To this invidious appeal to the pride and 
the prejudices of the members of the House 
of Commons, Colonel Barre thus energetically 
replied : 

" They planted by your care ! No ! your op- 
pressions planted them in America. They 
fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated 
and inhospitable country, where they exposed 
themselves to almost all the hardships to 
which human nature is liable, and, among 
others, to the cruelty of a savage foe, the most 



24 AMERICAN EEVOLUTION. 

subtle, and, I will take upon me to say, the 
most formidable of any people upon the face 
of God's earth ; and yet, actuated by princi- 
ples of true English liberty, they met all 
hardships with pleasure, compared with those 
they suffered in their own country, from the 
hands of those who should have been their 
friends. 

" They nourished up hy your indulgence ! 
they grew by your neglect of them. As soon 
as you began to care for them, that care was 
exercised in sending persons to rule them in 
one department and another, who were, per- 
haps, the deputies of deputies to some mem- 
bers of this House, sent to spy out their liber- 
ties, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey 
upon them — men whose behavior, on many 
occasions, has caused the blood of those sons 
of liberty to recoil within them — men pro- 
moted to the highest seats of justice ; some 
who, to my knowledge, were glad, by go- 
ing to a foreign country, to escape being 
brought to the bar of a court of justice in their 
own. 

" They protected by your arms ! they have 
nobly taken up arms in your defence, have 
exerted their valor, amidst their constant and 
laborious industry, for the defence of a coun- 
try whose frontier was drenched in blood, 
while its interior parts yielded all its little 
savings to your emolument. And, believe 
me, remember I this day told you so, tha* 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 25 

same spirit of freedom which actuated that 
people at first, will accompany them still ; 
but prudence forbids me to explain myself 
further. God knows I do not at this time 
speak from any motives of party heat ; what 
I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my 
heart. 

" However superior to me, in general know- 
ledge and experience, the respectable body of 
this House may be, yet I claim to know more 
of America than most of you, having seen, 
and been conversant with that country. The 
people, I believe, are as truly loyal as any 
subjects the king has, but a people jealous of 
their liberties, and who will vindicate them 
if ever they should be violated. But the sub- 
ject is too delicate — I will say no more." 

In the House of Lords the bill met with no 
opposition ; and on the 22d of March it re- 
ceived the royal assent.*" In adopting the 
stamp-act as a method of taxing the colonies, 
ministers flattered themselves that the nullity 
of all transactions in which the stamps pre- 
scribed by the new law were not used would 
insure its execution. In this confidence they 



* The night after the passage of the stamp-act, Franklin 
wrote from London to his friend Charles Thompson, after- 
wards the Secretary of Congress — " The sun of Liberty is 
set — the Americans must light up the lamps of industry and 
eeonomy." The heroism of the revolution spoke in Mr. 
Thomeson's pithy answer : " Be assured we shall light up 
torch^ of another sort." 

3 



26 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

postponed the commencement of its operation 
to the month of November, 1765. 

This was a fatal error on their part. Had 
they prescribed its enforcement immediately 
on its arrival in America, the colonists might, 
in their consternation, have been awed into 
compliance with its provisions ; but the long 
interval between its arrival and its execution, 
gave them ample time to organize their op- 
position against it. Of this they fully availed 
themselves. On the 28th of May, the assem- 
bly of Virginia passed strong resolutions 
against the stamp-act, the substance of which 
was readily adopted by the other provincial 
legislatures. Popular pamphlets were pub- 
lished in abundance, in reprobation of the 
power thus assumed by the British parlia- 
ment ; and the proprietors of newspapers, 
whose journals were destined to be burdened 
with a stamp duty, raised against the obnox- 
ious statute a cry which resounded from Mas- 
sachusetts to Georgia. The oppressive meas- 
ures of ministers were canvassed in town- 
meetings and in every place of public resort ; 
and the limits of the obedience due to the 
parent country were freely and boldly dis- 
cussed in every company. 

In these proceedings the colony of Virginia 
led the way, by passing, in the House of Bur- 
gesses, at the motion of Mr. Patrick Henry, 
the following resolutions: — 1st. "That the 
first adventurers — settlers of this his maj Aty's 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 27 

colony and dominion of Virginia — ^brought 
with them, and transmitted to their posterity, 
and all other his majesty's subjects, since in- 
habiting in this his majesty's said colony, all 
the liberties, privileges, and immunities that 
have at any time been held, enjoyed, and 
possessed by the people of Great Britain." 

2d]y. " That by tv^o royal charters, granted 
by King James I., the colonies aforesaid are 
declared to be entitled to all liberties, privi- 
leges, and immunities of denizens, and natural 
subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they 
had been abiding and born w^ithin the realm 
of England." 

Sdly. " That his majesty's liege people of 
this his ancient colony have enjoyed the right 
of being thus governed by their ovs^n assem- 
bly, in the article of taxes and internal police, 
and that the same has never been forfeited 
or yielded up, but been constantly recognised 
by the king and people of Britain." 

4thly. " Resolved, therefore, that the gen- 
eral assembly of this colony, together with his 
majesty or his substitutes, have, in their repre- 
sentative capacity, the only exclusive right 
and power to lay taxes and imposts upon the 
inhabitants of this colony, and that every at- 
tempt to vest such power in any other person 
or persons whatsoever than the general as- 
sembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, 
and unjust, and hath a manifest tendency to 
destroy British as well as American liberty." 



28 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

5thly. "Resolved, that his majesty's liege 
people, the inhabitants of this colony, are not 
bound to yield obedience to any law or ordi- 
nance whatever, designed to impose any taxa- 
tion whatever upon them, other than the 
laws or ordinances of the general assembly 
aforesaid." 

6thly. "Resolved, that any person who shall, 
by speaking or writing, assert or maintain 
that any person or persons, other than the 
general assembly of this colony, have any 
right or power to impose, or lay any taxation 
on the people here, shall be deemed an enemy 
to this his majesty's colony." 

The heat engendered by the debates, which 
in various colonies issued in resolutions to the 
tenor of the foregoing, at length broke out in 
acts of violence. The populace of Boston at- 
tacked the houses of the officers of govern- 
ment, and destroyed their furniture. Similar 
excesses took place in some of the other colo- 
nies ; and the general antipathy of the public 
against the act sheltered the perpetrators of 
these outrages from punishment. 

These ebullitions were followed by more 
regular and more effective proceedings on the 
part of the American patriots On the 6th of 
June the assembly of Massachusetts, sensible 
of the necessity of union to the maintenance 
of their rights and liberties, invited the other 
colonial legislative bodies to send deputies to 
a general congress to be holden at New York 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 29 

on the second Tuesday of October, for the 
purpose of deliberating on the steps necessary 
to be taken in the existing circumstances. 

This summons was readily answered by all 
the colonies except those of Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Georgia, which, however, hearti- 
ly approved of the purposed measures, but 
were prevented by their respective govern- 
ors from meeting for the purpose of electing 
deputies to attend the congress. The repre- 
sentatives of nine colonies met at the time 
and place appointed, and after mature delib- 
eration agreed upon a declaration of their 
rights and a statement of their grievances, 
and also drew up and signed petitions to the 
king and to both houses of parliament. Simi- 
lar steps were taken individually by the colo- 
nies which had been prevented from sending 
deputies to the congress. 



SECTION V. 

REPEAL OF THE STAMP-ACT, TENTH OF MARCH, 
1766. NEW ATTEMPT AT TAXATION, AND RE- 
SISTANCE TO THE SAME. 

The first of November, the day on which 
the stamp-act was to commence its operation, 
was ushered in throughout the colonies by 

3* 



30 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the funereal tolling of bells. In the course 
of the day various processions and public ex- 
hibitions were made, all indicative of the ab- 
horrence in which the detested statute was 
universally held. By common consent the 
act was utterly disregarded, and not a stamp 
was bought to legalize any transaction. . 

Nor did the Americans content themselves 
with this sullen opposition to the measures of 
ministers.* They entered into solemn reso- 
lutions not to import any British manufactured 
goods till the stamp-act was repealed ; and 
an association was formed to oppose the act 
by force of arms. The latter step had no 

* In some places the disafFection and excitement broke 
out in tumultuous violence. In August several riots oc 
curred in the town of Boston, in which much valuable pro- 
perty was destroyed, notwithstanding the earnest efforts of 
the great body of the citizens to discountenance and depress 
them. The effigy of Oliver, the proposed distributer of 
stamps, was publicly gibbeted in the streets of the town, on 
an elm-tree, afterwards known as " Liberty Tree." His 
office was torn down, his house mobbed, and great injury 
done to his furniture. He was compelled to decline tlie ap- 
pointment, and forced, some time after, to repeat the pledge 
at the foot of the tree. 

In Providence, R. I., effigies of the stamp collectors, and 
those who favored Britain, were hung and burnt — and in 
Newport the house of one of them destroyed in the popular 
fury. In New York the act was contemptuously cried about 
the streets, as " The Folly of England, and the Ruin of 
America." The stamp distributer resigned, and the stamp 
papers were seized and destroyed. When the vessels con- 
taining the stamp paper approached Philadelphia, the vessels 
in the harbor hoisted flags at half-mast, and the bells were 
muffled and tolled, as for a public calamity. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 31 

immediate effect ; but the non-importation 
agreement brought such distress upon the, 
British manufacturers that they besieged par- 
liament with petitions against the measures 
which had been adopted for the taxing of the 
colonies. 

Thus assailed by the clamors of the colo- 
nists, and by the complaints of the suffering 
British merchants, his majesty's government, 
at the head of which was now placed the 
Marquis of Rockingham, for a time wavered 
at the view of the unpleasant alternative 
which was set before them, of either repeal- 
ing or enforcing the obnoxious statute. The 
former measure was grating to the pride of 
the nation at large, and the latter evidently 
involved in its prosecution the danger of a 
civil war. During this period of hesitation, 
the state of the colonies was frequently dis- 
cussed in parliament. 

It was, in particular, the prominent subject 
of debate at the opening of the session on the 
17th of December, 1765. On this occasion 
Mr. Pitt seems to have exerted all the ener- 
gies of his powerful mind to avert the mis- 
chiefs which he beheld impending over his 
country. " It is a long time, Mr. Speaker," 
said he, " since I have attended in parliament. 
When the resolution was taken in the House 
to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could 
have endured to have been carried in m}^ bed, 
so great was the agitation of my mind for the 



32 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

consequences, I would have solicited some 
kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, 
to have borne my testimony against it. 

" It is now an act that has passed ; I would 
speak with decency of every act of this House, 
but I must beg the indulgence of the House 
to speak of it with freedom. I hope a day 
may be soon appointed to consider the state 
of the nation with respect to America. I 
hope gentlemen will come to this debate with 
all the temper and impartiality that his ma- 
jesty recommends, and the importance of the 
subject requires — a subject of greater import- 
ance than ever engaged the attention of this 
House, that subject only excepted, when, 
nearly a century ago, it was the question 
whether you yourselves were to be bound oi 
free. In the mean time, as I cannot depend 
upon health for any future day, such is the 
nature of my infirmities, I will beg to say a 
few words at present, leaving the justice, the 
equity, the policy, the expediency of the act 
to another time. I will only speak to one 
point — a point which seems not to have been 
generally understood — I mean to the right. 

" Some gentlemen seem to have considered 
it as a point of honor. If gentlemen consider 
it in that light, they leave all measures of 
right and wrong, to follow a delusion that 
may lead to destruction. It is my opinion 
that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax 
upon the colonies. At the same time I assert 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 33 

the authority of this kingdom over the colonies 
to be sovereign and supreme in every circum- 
stance of government and legislation whatso- 
ever. They are the subjects of this kingdom, 
equally entitled with yourselves to all the nat- 
ural rights of mankind, and the peculiar priv- 
ileges of Englishmen. Equally bound by its 
laws, and equally participating of the constitu- 
tion of this free country, the Americans are 
the sons — not the bastards of England. Taxa- 
tion is no part of the governing or legislative 
power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and 
grant of the Commons alone. In legislation 
the three estates of the realm are alike con- 
cerned ; but the concurrence of the peers and 
the crown to a tax is only necessary to close 
with the form of a law. The gift and grant 
is of the Commons alone. 

" In ancient days the crown, the barons, 
and the clergy possessed the lands. In those 
days the barons and clergy gave and granted 
to the crown. They gave and granted what 
was their own. At present, since the discov- 
ery of America, and other circumstances 
admitting, the Commons are become the pro- 
prietors of the land. The crown has divested 
itself of its great estates. The church (God 
bless it) has but a pittance. The property oi 
the Lords, compared with that of the Com- 
mons, is as a drop of water in the ocean ; 
and this House represents those Commons, 
the proprietors of the lands ; and those pro- 



34 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

prietors virtually represent the rest of th^ 
inhabitants. 

" When, therefore, in this House we give 
and grant, we give and grant what is our 
own. But in an American tax what do we 
do ? * We, your majesty's Commons of Great 
Britain, give and grant to your majesty' — 
Avhat ? — our own property ? — No ! We give 
and grant to your majesty the property of 
your majesty's Commons of America ! It is 
an absurdity in terms." 

" There is," said Mr. Pitt, towards the close 
of his speech, " there is an idea in some, that 
the colonies are virtually represented in this 
House. I would fain know by whom an 
American is represented here ? Is he repre- 
sented by any knight of the shire in any coun- 
ty in this kingdom ? Would to God that re- 
spectable representation was augmented to a 
greater number ! Or will you tell him that he 
is represented by any representative of a 
borough — a borough which, perhaps, no man 
ever saw. This is what is called the rotten 
part of the constitution. Is cannot continue 
a century — if it does not drop it must be am- 
putated. The idea of a virtual representation 
of America in this House is the most con- 
temptible idea that ever entered into the head 
of a man." 

Mr. Pitt concluded by declaring it as his 
opinion, that while the Americans were pos- 
sessed of the constitutional right to tax them- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 35 

selves, Great Britain, as the supreme govern- 
ing and legislative pov^^er, had always bound 
the colonies by her laws, by her regulations 
and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in 
manufactures, in every thing except that of 
taking their money out of their pokets with- 
out their consent. 

Of this broad assertion, of the extent of 
British power over the colonies, Mr. Grenville, 
the patron of the stamp-act, took advantage, 
and maintained that there was no difference 
in principle between the right to impose ex- 
ternal and internal taxation. He asserted 
that the protection from time to time afforded 
to America by Britain was a just ground of 
claim to obedience on the part of the latter 
from the former, and asked when America 
was emancipated from the allegiance which 
she owed to the parent state ? 

Provoked by Mr. Grenville's sophistry, and 
irritated by his insolence of tone and manner, 
Mr. Pitt gave utterance to the following de- 
claration — a declaration, no doubt, well cal- 
culated to animate the spirit of freedom on the 
other side of the Atlantic. " The gentleman 
tells us that America is obstinate ; America 
is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that 
America has resisted. Three millions of peo- 
ple, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as 
voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have 
been fit instruments to make slaves of the 
rest of their fellow-subjects." 



36 AMERICAN REVOLUTIQN. 

Thus did Mr. Pitt plead the cause of the 
colonies with all the fervor of commanding 
eloquence. In the course of a few days the 
same cause was maintained by Dr. Franklin, 
on the plain and unadorned, but convincing 
principles of common sense. In the month 
of February, that celebrated philosopher was 
examined at the bar of the House of Commons 
touching the state of America, and the pro- 
bable effect upon the inhabitants of that 
country of the imposition of stamp duties. 

In this exaraination he evinced an accurate 
and extensive knowledge of facts — of facts 
which were calculated to convince any reason- 
able mind that it was morally impossible to 
enforce the stamp-act in the colonies ; and 
that an aftempt to effect that object would 
be productive of the worst consequences to 
the prosperity of Britain. The train of inter- 
rogatories furnished, of course, by himself, af- 
forded him an opportunity of stating his opin- 
ons in his accustomed clear and simple man- 
ner ; and the cross-examination which he un- 
derwent on the part of members hostile to the 
claims of the colonies, gave an occasion for 
the display of that coolness of temper and 
promptitude of perception by which he was 
distinguished. 

His examination concluded with the follow- 
ing pithy questions and replies: — Q. AVhat 
used to be the pride of the Americans ? A. To 
indulge in the fashions and manufactures of 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 37 

Great Britain. Q. What is now their pride ? 
A. To wear their old clothes over again till 
they can make new ones.* 

The distresses of the commercial and manu- 
facturing interest now co-operating with par- 
liamentary arguments and eloquence, the new 
ministers, who were not so deeply committed 
as their predecessors on the subject of the 
stamp-act, at length made up their mind to 
give way. Before the examination of Dr. 
Franklin, indeed, namely, on the 21st of Jan- 
uary, 1766, a motion had, under their auspices, 
been made in the Commons in a committee 
of the whole House to the following effect : — 

" That it is the opinion of the committee, 
that the House be moved, that leave be given 
to bring in a bill to repeal an act passed in 
the last session of parliament, entitled, ' An 
act for granting and applying certain stamp 
duties, and other duties in the British colonies 
and plantations in America towards further 
defraying the expenses of defending, protect- 
ing, and securing the same, and for amending 
such parts of the several acts of parliament 
relating to the trade and revenues of the said 
Qolonies and plantations, as direct the manner 
of determining and recovering the penalties 
and forfeitures therein mentioned.'" 

To this resolution the advocates of the ob- 
noxious statute moved an amendment, by 

* See note at the end of the Section. 
4 



38 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

which it was proposed to leave out the word 
" repeal," and insert " explain and amend." 
But this amendment was rejected by a ma- 
jority of one hundred and eighteen. 

On the 24th of February, the above-men- 
tioned proceedings were confirmed by the 
passing a resolution similar to the foregoing 
one, but with a view, no doubt, of saving the 
dignity of the nation and of his majesty's 
government ; this second resolution was ac- 
companied by others, approving of the conduct 
of such of the colonists as had used their best 
exertions for the enforcement of the stamp- 
act in America ; indemnifying those " who, by 
reason of the tumults and outrages in North 
America, had not been able to procure stamp- 
ed paper since the passing of the act for lay- 
ing certain duties on stamps in the colonies, 
and had incurred penalties and forfeitures, by 
writing, engrossing, or printing on paper, vel- 
lum, or parchment, not duly stamped, as re- 
quired by the said act." 

A bill, founded on these resolutions, was 
accordingly brought into the House. This 
bill, after warm debates, passed both Houses 
of Parliament, and received the. loval assent 
on the 16th of March, 1766. The ostensible 
grounds for the adoption of this measure, as 
expressed by preamble to the act, was the inex- 
pediency of the tax on stamps, and by way of 
guardedly reserving the main point in ques- 
tion, namely, the right of the British parlia- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 39 

ment to impose internal taxes on the colonies, 
the repeal act was accompanied by a declar- 
atory act in which it was asserted, " that the 
parliament had, and of right ought to have, 
power to bind the colonies in all cases what- 
soever." 

^This broad and unqualified claim on the 
part of the British legislature, was little cal- 
culated to satisfy, such of the American colo- 
nists as had maintained the struggle against 
the British ministry upon deep and well con- 
sidered principle. These, no doubt, regarded 
it with suspicion and dislike, as containing 
the germ of future encroachments upon their 
rights and privileges. But it seems to have 
made little impression upon the minds of the 
American public. In their joy for the repeal 
of the stamp-act, and in their eagerness to 
resume their ordinary occupations, the colonists 
regarded it as a harmless sally of wounded 
pride, and cheerfully renewed their commer- 
cial intercourse with the mother country. 

But the evil genius of Britain still fostered 
in the cabinet the idea of raising a revenue 
in America. Lord Rockingham having been 
superseded by the Duke of Grafton, Charles 
Townsend, the then chancellor of the exche- 
quer, brought into the House of Commons, in 
the year 1767, a bill which was quickly passed 
into a law, for granting duties in the British 
colonies on glass, paper, painters' colors, and 
tea. This proceeding again kindled a blaze 



40 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

throughout the provinces. In their estima- 
tion, it proved that the declaratory act was 
not intended to be a dead letter, and it gave 
rise to bold and acute discussions as to the 
distinction between tax-bills and bills for the 
regulation of trade. 

To add to the alarm of the colonists,. a 
board of commissioners of customs was estab- 
lished at Boston ; which step convinced them 
that the British government intended to harass 
them with a multiplicity of fiscal oppressions. 
They therefore again had recourse to petitions, 
remonstrances, and non-importation agree- 
ments. The seizure of the sloop Liberty, be- 
longing to Mr. Hancock, a popular leader, 
for an infringement of the revenue laws, in- 
cited the populace of Boston to renewed acts 
of violence, which drove the commissioners 
of the customs to take shelter in Castle Wil- 
liam. 

To suppress this spirit of insubordination, 
his majestj^'s ministers stationed some armed 
vessels in the harbor, and quartered two regi- 
ments of foot in the town of Boston. The in- 
tention of the British government to send this 
force to Boston having been announced, the 
selectmen of ninety-six towns of the state of 
Massachusetts met at Faneuil Hall, in that 
town ; but this assembly, which had excited 
great alarm among the friends of government, 
merely recommended moderate measures, and 
then dissolved itself The day after the break- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 41 

ing up of this convention, the troops arrived, 
and landed without opposition under the pro- 
tection of the guns of the armed vessels in the 
harbor. 

The intelligence of the refractory spirit thus 
manifested by the inhabitants of Boston, pro- 
duced such irritation in the British parliament, 
that in February, 1769, both Houses concur- 
red in an address to his majesty, prompting 
him to vigorous measures against all persons 
guilty of what they w^ere pleased to denomi- 
nate treasonable acts ; and beseeching him, 
in pursuance of the powers contained in an 
obsolete statute of the 35th of Henry VIIL, to 
seize the offenders, and cause them to be tried 
by a special commission within the realm of 
Great Britain. 

This imprudent suggestion was encounter- 
ed by strong resolutions on the part of the 
provincial assemblies ; and the colonists again 
had recourse to non-importation agreements, 
and, in some instances, sent back to Great 
Britain cargoes of goods which had actually 
arrived. Thus the distresses of the British 
manufacturers were renewed ; and ministers 
were induced, by their earnest remonstrances, 
to repeal all the newly imposed duties, except 
that on tea. This reservation being a practi- 
cal assertion of the right of parliament to im- 
pose internal taxes on the American states, 
was very odious to the colonists, who, how- 
ever, relaxed their associations so far as to 

4* 



42 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

allow the importation of all articles except 
tea, the use of which commodity they forbore, 
or supplied themselves with it by smuggling. 



Note. — On the 10th of November, 1776, on 
motion of the Duke of Richmond, that Mr. 
Penn, whom he saw below the bar, should be 
examined, in order to establish the authentici- 
ty of the petition presented by him, several 
curious particulars, relative to much contro- 
verted subjects, came out upon the examina- 
tion of this gentleman. 

He was personally acquainted with almost 
all the members of Congress, had been gov- 
ernor of the colony, and resided in the city in 
which they assembled and held their delibera- 
tions, and had every opportunity, from office, 
family connection, locality of property, and an 
extensive acquaintance, to obtain the fullest 
information of the state of affairs in America, 
as well as of the temper and disposition of the 
people. 

It was also evident, that his discernment 
was equal to the forming a just estimate 
of things ; and there could scarcely be a sus- 
picion of partiality in favor of any measure 
which could tend to American independence, 
as the great fortune of his family, if not whol- 
ly lost, must be much impaired by such an 
event. Among the remarkable parts of his 
testimony was an absolute negative to the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 43 

supposition or charge, that any design of in- 
dependence had been formed by the Congress. 
He declared that the numbers composing 
that body had been fairly elected ; that they were 
men of character, capable of conveying the 
sense of America ; and that they had actually 
conveyed the sense of their constituents ; that 
the different provinces would be governed by 
their decisions in all events ; that the war 
was levied and carried on by the colonists, 
merely in 'defence of what they thought their 
liberties ; that the spirit of resistance was 
general, and they believed themselves able to 
defend their liberties against the arms of Great 
Britain ; that the colony of Pennsylvania con- 
tained about sixty thousand men able to carry 
arms — that of these, twenty thousand had 
voluntarily enrolled themselves to serve with- 
out pay, and were armed and embodied before 
the governor's departure. Being questioned 
as to the nature of that volunteer force, he said 
that it included the men of best fortune and 
character in the province, and that it was 
generally composed of men who were pos- 
sessed of property, either landed or otherwise ; 
that an additional body of four thousand five 
hundred minute-men had since been raised in 
the province, who were to be paid when called 
out upon service ; that they had the means 
and material of casting iron cannon in great 
plenty ; that they cast brass cannon in Phila- 
delphia, and they made small-arms in great 



44 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

abundance and perfection ; that the colonies 
had been dissatisfied with the reception of 
their former petitions ; but that they had 
founded great hopes upon the success of that 
which he brought over, that it was styled the 
Olive Branch, and that he had been congratu- 
lated by his friends upon his being the bearer 
of it ; that it was greatly to be feared, that if 
conciliatory measures were not speedily pur- 
sued, they w^ould form connections with foreign 
powers, and that if such connections were 
once formed, it would be found a matter of 
great difficulty to dissolve them. Being asked, 
" whether the people of the different provinces 
were now in a state of freedom ?" he said that 
they thought themselves so ; whether " the 
most opulent inhabitants would not prefer 
freedom under this country to what they now 
enjoy ? he answered, that they would prefer 
it to any other state of freedom ; and that, 
notwithstanding their determination to sup- 
port the measures of the Congress, they wish- 
ed for a reconciliation with this country. He 
denied its being an object of the Congress to 
throw off the regulations of their trade, and 
acknowledged that the most thinking men in 
Pennsylvania were of opinion, that a refusal 
of the present petition would be a bar to all 
reconcilement. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 45 

SECTION VI. 

PETITION AND REMONSTRANCE, 1773. 

Thus was tranquillity restored to most of 
the colonies. But the presence of the troops 
in the town of Boston was a perpetual source 
of irritation in the province of Massachusetts. 
The Bostonians regarded the soldiers with an 
evil eye, as the instruments of tyranny design- 
ed to be used for the destruction of their liber- 
ties, and availed themselves of every opportu- 
nity which occurred to annoy and insult them. 
In resisting a violent act of aggression, a party 
of the military were obliged to fire on the 
populace. 

This event occurred on the evening of 
March 5th, 1770. The particulars are as fol- 
lows. There was a regiment of British troops 
quartered in barracks in Brattle-street, and 
another regiment in Water-street. Frequent 
altercations had taken place between the 
soldiers and the inhabitants. On this evening 
a sentinel who was stationed near the Custom- 
house, was assailed by a number of persons, 
and a sergeant's guard was sent to his relief, 
followed immediately after by Captain Pres- 
ton. A crowd soon assembled about the place, 
and the soldiers were assaulted by missiles of 
wood, and pieces of ice, and dared to fire. 



46 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 



The soldiers, after standing their ground for 
some time, fired, as stated above, upon their 
assailants. Three men in the crowd were 
immediately killed, and two others were mor- 
tally wounded. 




In times of public excitement, nothing is 
more irritating to the populace, and nothing 
more painful to men of cultivated minds, than 
the interference of the military.. When that 
interference is attended with fatal conse- 
quences, the phrensy of the people rises to the 
utmost height. Such was the case with the 
inhabitants of Boston. On hearing of the 
melancholy event, some obscure individuals 
caused the drums to beat to arms, and the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 47 

townsmen assembled to the amount of some 
thousands. They were, however, happily ap- 
peased by the intervention of several patriotic 
leaders, w4iose zeal was allayed by prudence, 
and in consequence of whose interference 
with the lieutenant-governor the obnoxious 
troops were sent out of the town. Artful 
means were, however, resorted to for the 
purpose of keeping alive their resentment. 

On the morning of the day appointed for 
the burial of the slain, most of the shops in 
Boston were shut. The bells of that town, 
of Charlestown, and Roxbury, rung out muf- 
fled peals. Mournful processions moving from 
the houses of the murdered dead, as they who 
had fallen by the fire of the military were 
denominated, united with the corpses at the 
spot where they had met their fate. Here 
forming into a body, they marched six abreast, 
followed by the carriages of the gentry^ 
through the main streets to the place of in- 
terment. 

Immediately after the affray, which was 
productive of such sad consequences, Captain 
Preston, the officer who commanded the party 
who had fired upon the people, had been com- 
mitted to prison, together with a number of 
private soldiers who were implicated in that 
act. The firing had taken place on the 5th 
of March, and though the trial of the accused 
did not take place till the following November, 
there might have been reason to apprehend 



48 AMERICAN REVOLUTION'. 

that, in appearing, for a decision on a case of 
life and death, before a Boston jury, they 
would run the greatest hazard of falling vic- 
tims to infuriated prejudice. 

But, in this instance, the Bostonians gave 
evidence of their English descent. In capital 
cases, Englishmen, in modern times at least, 
have almost uniformly exercised an impartial 
administration of the law. Such was the 
temper which was manifested by the court 
and jury on the trial of Captain Preston and 
his comrades. After a patient investigation 
of the case, all the prisoners were acquitted 
of murder, and two, being found guilty of 
manslaughter, were immediately burnt in the 
hand and discharged. 

It is a fact not to be omitted, that they were 
defended, and zealously defended, by the cele- 
brated John Adams and Josiah Quincy, than 
whom there did not exist more ardent advo- 
cates of the cause of American freedom.* 
The former of these gentlemen, in warning 
the jury against giving way to popular im- 
pressions, expressed himself in the following 
energetic terms : — " The law, in all vicissitudes 
of government, fluctuations of the passions, 



* It is also a fact worthy of notice, that the counsel for 
the crown, Samuel Quincy, Esq., solicitor-general, was the 
brother of Josiah Quincy, and on tlie termination of the 
Biege of Boston, 1776, he left the country with other loya- 
lists, and held the office of attorney for the crown in the 
island of Antigua, until his death, in 1789. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 49 

or fliglits of enthusiasm, will preserve a steady, 
undeviating course ; it will not bend to the 
uncertain wishes, imaginations, and wanton 
tempers of men. To use the words of a great 
and worthy man, a patriot and a hero, an en- 
lightened friend to mankind, and a martyr to 
liberty — I mean Algernon Sidney — who, from 
his earliest infancy, sought a tranquil retire- 
ment under the shadow of the tree of liberty, 
with his tongue, his pen, and his sword — 

" ' The law,' says he, ' no passion can dis- 
turb. It is void of desire and fear, lust and 
anger. It is mens sine affectu ; written reason ; 
retaining some measure of the divine perfec- 
tion. It does not enjoin that which pleases a 
weak, frail man, but, without any regard to 
persons, commands that which is good, and 
punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, 
high or low. It is deaf, inexorable, inflexi- 
ble.' Yes," said Mr. Adams, "on the one 
hand, it is inexorable to the cries and lamen- 
tations of the prisoners ; on the other, it is 
deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the 
populace." 

Notwithstanding this firmness on the part 
of the counsel for the prisoners, and notwith- 
standing the impartiality of the jury and of 
the judge, which latter, in his summing up on 
the trial of Captain Preston, did not hesitate 
to say, " I feel myself deeply affected that 
this affair turns out so much to the shame of 
the town in general," ministers took advantage 

5 



50 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

of the disturbed state of the public mind, by 
making it a pretext for rendering the governor 
and judges of Massachusetts independent of 
the province, by transferring the payment of 
their salaries from the assembly to the crown. 

In consequence of this proceeding, Governor 
Hutchinson, who had never been popular, be- 
came still more than ever an object of dislike. 
Such being the disposition of the people of 
Massachusetts towards their chief magistrate, 
their indignation against him was raised to the 
highest pitch in the year 1773 by an incident, 
the consequences of which had a most unhap- 
py aspect on the fortunes of Great Britain. 
The servants of government naturally look 
"with a jealous eye upon the bold assertors of 
popular rights ; and as naturally imagine that 
they shall most gratify their masters by the 
recommendation of a steady and active resist- 
ance against what they are apt to deem the 
encroachments of popular claims. 

In this spirit Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, 
the former the governor and the latter lieu- 
tenant-governor of the colony of Massachu- 
setts, had addressed some letters to individuals 
who had put them into the hands of his ma- 
jesty's ministers, in which letters they vitupe- 
rated the American patriots, called upon gov- 
ernment to adopt more vigorous measures than 
they had hitherto done in support of their au- 
thority, recommended restraints upon liberty 
and an infringement of charters, and even the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 51 

" taking off" of the principal opponents to 
British domination. 

These letters having come into the posses- 
sion of Dr. Franklin, he thought it his duty, 
as agent of the House of Representatives of 
Massachusetts, to send them to his constituents. 
Their perusal excited, as might have been 
expected, the indignation of the assembly, the 
members of which unanimously resolved, 
" That the tendency and design of the said 
letters was to overthrow the constitution of 
this government, and to introduce arbitrary 
power into the province ;" and, moreover, 
passed a vote, " that a petition should be im- 
mediately sent to the king, to remove the 
governor, Hutchinson, and the lieutenant- 
governor, Oliver, for ever from the govern- 
ment of the province." 

Dr. Franklin, after having transmitted the 
petition in question to Lord Dartmouth, the 
then Colonial Secretary, appeared to support 
it in person at the Council Chamber on the 
llth of January, 1774; but, finding that he 
was to be encountered by counsel employed 
on behalf of the accused functionaries, he 
prayed that the hearing of the case might be 
adjourned for the space of three weeks, which 
was granted him. In the mean time specula- 
tion was all alive as to the means by which 
Dr. Franklin had obtained possession of the 
letters ; and a Mr. Whateley and a Mr. Tem- 
ple, both connected with the colonial office, 



53 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

mutually suspecting each other of the unfaith- 
ful communication of them, a correspondence 
took place between those gentlemen, which 
ended in a duel, in w^hich Mr. Whateley was 
dangerously wounded. 

For the prevention of further mischief of 
this sort, Dr. Franklin published, in the " Pub- 
lic Advertiser," a letter exonerating both the 
combatants from blame in this case, and tak- 
ing the whole responsibility of the procuring 
the documents on himself. When the doctor 
appeared again before the council in support 
of the Massachusetts petition, he was assailed 
by Mr. Wedderburne, who acted for the gov- 
ernor and the lieutenant-governor, in terms of 
most elaborate abuse. 

" The letters," said the caustic advocate, 
" could not have come to Dr. Franklin by fair 
means. The writers did not give them to him, 
nor yet did the deceased correspondent. No- 
thing, then, will acquit Dr. Franklin of the 
charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or 
corrupt means, for the most malignant of pur- 
poses ; unless he stole them from the person 
that stole them. This argument is irrefraga- 
ble. 

" I hope, my lords, you will mark and 
brand the man, for the honor of this country 
of Europe, and of mankind. Private corres- 
pondence has hitherto been held sacred in 
times of the greatest party rage, not only in 
politics, but religion. He has forfeited all the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 53 

respect of societies and of men. Into what 
companies v/iU he hereafter go with an un- 
embarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of 
virtue ? Men will watch him with a jealous 
eye — they will hide their papers from him, 
and lock up their escritoirs. He will hence- 
forth esteem it a libel to be called a man of 
letters — liomo trium literarum* But he not 
only took away the letters from one brother, 
but kept himself concealed till he nearly oc- 
casioned the murder of the other. 

" It is impossible to read his account, ex- 
pressive of the coolest and most deliberate 
malice, without horror. Amidst these tragical 
events, of one person nearly murdered, of an- 
other answerable for the issue, of a worthy 
governor hurt in his dearest interests, the fate 
of America in suspense, — here is a man, who, 
with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands 
up and avows himself the author of all. I 
can compare it only to Zanga in Dr. Young's 
Revenge — 

' Know, then, 'twas — I ; 

I forged the letter ; I disposed the picture. 
I hated, I despised, and I destroy.' 

I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful tem- 
per attributed, by poetic fiction only, to the 
bloody African, is not surpassed by the cool- 
ness and apathy of the wily American ?" 

Less fervid eloquence than this of Mr. 
Wedderburne's would have been sufficient to 

* Fur, thief. 
5* 



54 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sway the decision of the council, who declar- 
ed the petition of the Massachusetts assembly 
to be scandalous and vexatious. Franklin 
was dismissed from the office which he held 
of postmaster-general of the colonies. Wed- 
derburne was afterwards advanced in his 
profession, till he attained the chancellorship 
and a peerage ; and George III. lost thirteen 
provinces. 

Till this moment Franklin had labored for 
conciliation ; but though, during the time of 
the hearing of the arguments before the 
council, he preserved his countenance unmov- 
ed, the insults of Wedderburne so exasperated 
his feelings, that when he left the council- 
room he declared to his friend Dr. Priestley, 
who accompanied him on this memorable oc- 
casion, that he would never again put on the 
clothes which he then wore till he had receiv- 
ed satisfaction. He dressed himself in this 
" well-saved" suit Avhen he signed at Paris the 
treaty which for ever deprived the crown of 
Great Britain of its dominion over the United 
States. It is only within these seven years 
that it has been ascertained that governor 
Hutchinson's letters were put into Franklin's 
hands by a Dr. Williamson, who, without any 
suggestion on his part, had procured them by 
stratagem from the office where they had 
been deposited.* 

* This curious fact is stated, with many particulars, in a 
Memoir of Dr. Williamson, by Dr. Hosack, of New York. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 55 



SECTION VII. 

BOSTON PORT-ACT, AND REPEAL OF THE CHARTER 
OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The determination of the colonists to use 
no tea which had paid duty was so generally 
persevered in, that seventeen millions of 
pounds of that commodity were accumulated 
in the warehouses of the East India Company. 
With a view of getting rid of this stock, and 
at the same time of aiding ministers in their 
project of taxing the North American colonies, 
the company proposed that a law should be 
passed authorizing them to receive a draw- 
back of the full import duties on all teas which 
they should export. To this proposal the 
British government agreed, in hopes that, as 
by this arrangement the colonists, on paying 
the duty of three-pence per pound on the land- 
ing of the tea in their harbors, would be able 
to buy it at a cheaper rate than they could 
do from the contraband dealers, their patriotic 
scruples would be silenced by their love of 
gain. 

In this notion, however, ministers were mis- 
taken. Strong resolutions were entered into 
throughout the provinces, declaring, that 
whosoever should aid or abet in landing or 
vending the tea which was expected, ought 



56 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

to be regarded as an enemy to his country ; 
and that committees should be appointed to 
wait on the agents of the East India Compa- 
ny, and to demand from them a resignation 
of their appointments. 

Terrified by these proceedings, a great ma- 
jority of the consignees complied with this 
requisition ; but in Massachusetts these agents 
being the relatives and friends of the governor, 
and expecting to be supported by the milita- 
ry force stationed in Boston, were determined 
to land and offer for sale the obnoxious com- 
modity. As the tea ships were lying in the 
harbor, ready to land their cargoes, the lead- 
ing patriots, apprehensive that, if the tea were 
once warehoused, the opposition of the peo- 
ple to its sale might gradually give way, and 
deeming decisive measures absolutely neces- 
sary in the present circumstances, boarded 
the vessels, and emptied the tea-chests into 
the water. 

The particulars of this adventure are these. 
The ships alluded to were the Dartmouth and 
Elenor, and the Brig Beaver, which arrived 
in Boston about the first of December, 1773, 
with tea shipped by the East India Company. 
In anticipation of their arrival, a meeting had 
been held, at which it was resolved that the 
consignees of the tea should be required to 
send it back, without permitting it to be landed. 
This requisition not being complied with, sev- 
eral meetings of the people of Boston and the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



57 



neighboring towns were held, at the Old South 
Church, for taking measures to enforce a 
compliance. The last of these meetings was 
held on the 14th of December, and was pro- 
longed by debates to near six o'clock in the 
evening. At a given signal, about thirty per- 
sons, who were disguised as Indians, proceeded 
in a body to the tea ships, which la}^ at anchor 




near Griffin's wharf The meeting was im- 
mediately dissolved, and the crowed followed 
to the wharf. The disguised party having 
boarded these ships, in less than two hours 
took out all the tea, amounting to 240 chests, 
and 100 half-chests, broke them to pieces, and 
threw their contents into the sea. 



58 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The British ministry rejoiced that this out- 
rage had occurred, and that it had occurred 
in the town of Boston, which they had long 
regarded as the focus of sedition, from whence 
a spirit of resistance to British authority was 
diffused throughout the colonies. It now lay 
at their mercy, as having been guilty of a 
flagrant delinquency, and as meriting exemp- 
lary punishment. Determined to chastise its 
mutinous inhabitants for their numerous delin- 
quencies, and to bend them to submission, 
Lord North, then prime minister, on the 14th 
of IMarch, made a motion in the House of Com- 
mons, " That leave be given to bring in a bill 
for the immediate removal of the officers con- 
cerned in the collection and management of 
his majesty's duties and customs from the town 
of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts 
Bay in North America ; and to discontinue 
the landing and discharging, lading and ship- 
ping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the 
said town of Boston, or within the harbor 
thereof." 

The deep silence which followed the annun- 
ciation of this motion marked the sense of the 
house as to the serious consequences which 
it involved ; but it met with no opposition, 
except on the part of Alderman Sawbridge 
and Mr. Dowdswell. Even Colonel Barre, 
the great advocate of the rights of the colo- 
nies, spoke in favor of it, and it passed with- 
out a division. No debate occurred on the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION 59 

first reading of the bill on the 18th of March ; 
and the second reading, which took place on 
the 21st of the same month, was only inter- 
rupted by a few adverse remarks made by 
Mr. R. Fuller. On the 25th, a petition was 
presented agaiast the bill, signed by several 
natives of North America, at that time resi- 
dent in London ; after the reading of which 
the House discussed its provisions in commit- 
tee. 

Mr. Fuller availed himself of this occasion 
to move, that instead of the closing of the port 
of Boston, which measure, he argued, would 
be detrimental, not only to American, but 
also to British interests, a fine should be im- 
posed on the offending community. This 
amendment was opposed by the prime min- 
ister, who said that he was no enemy to leni- 
ent measures, but that it was evident that, 
with respect to the inhabitants of Boston, re- 
solutions of censure and warning would avail 
nothing, — that it was then the time to stand 
out, to defy them, to proceed with firmness 
and without fear, and that they would never 
reform till severe measures were adopted. 

With a lamentable want of foresight his 
lordship thus proceeded : " I hope that we 
every one feel that this is the common cause 
of us all ; and unanimity will go half way to 
the obedience of the people of Boston to this 
bill. The honorable gentleman l^lls us, that 
the act will be a piece of waste paper, and 



60 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



that an army will be required to put it into 
execution. The good of this act is, that four 
or five frigates will do the business without 
any military force." 

With a similar blindness to futurity, Mr. 
Charles Jenkinson exclaimed, " We have gone 
into a very expensive war for the attainment 
of America ; the struggle which we shall now 
have to keep it will be of little expense." 
Thus rash and short-sighted are statesmen 
when their passions obtain the mastery over 
their judgment ! After a lengthened debate, 
in the course of which the bill was powerful- 
ly opposed by Mr. Burke and Mr. Dowdswell, 
it passed the Commons with but very few 
negatives ; and having been hurried through 
the House of Lords, it finally received the 
royal assent, and was passed into a law. 

The Boston port-act was speedily followed 
by still more alarming measures. The free 
constitutions of the American provinces had 
presented strong impediments against the 
views of his majesty and his ministers. Among 
these, the charter of Massachusetts was pre- 
eminent for the liberality of its principles. 
Being well aware, that while this charter 
subsisted he could never effectuate his designs, 
Lord North determined to set it aside. When 
Charles II. deemed it necessary for his pur- 
poses to abrogate the franchises of the city of 
London, and of other corporate towns in Eng- 
land, he attacked their charters by quo war' 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 61 

rantos ; but the process of law is tedious, and 
in this case the issue of legal proceedings 
might be uncertain. 

The minister, therefore, decided upon bring- 
ing the omnipotence of parliament to bear 
upon the contumacious inhabitants of the of- 
fending colony. Accordingly, on the 28th of 
INIarch, 1774, on the allegation that an exec- 
utive power was wanting in the province of 
Massachusetts, and that it was highly neces- 
sary to strengthen the hands of its magistracy, 
he proposed to bring in a bill, authorizing the 
governor for the time being to act as a justice 
of the peace, and empowering him to appoint 
at his will and pleasure the officers through- 
out the whole civil authority, such as the 
provost marshal and the sheriffs ; to which 
latter officers was to be delegated the nomi- 
nation of juries, who had formerly been elect- 
ed by the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
several towns of the province. 

It was also his lordship's intention to vest 
in the crown the appointment of the coancil, 
which, under the provisions of the ancient 
constitution, had heretofore been elected by 
the general court. The latter provision was 
introduced into the bill at the suggestion of 
Lord George Germaine, who was pleased to 
say, that " ho would not have men of a mer- 
cantile cast every day collecting themselves 
together and debating about political mat- 
ters ; he would have them follow their occu- 

6 



62 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

pations as merchants, and not consider them- 
selves as ministers of that country." 

In pursuance of this suggestion, which was 
thankfully received by the premier, there 
were added to the bill severe restrictions on 
the holding of public town meetings. Leave 
was given to bring in the bill without a single 
objection, except on the part of Mr. Byng, 
the member for Middlesex ; and though, in 
its progress through the House of Commons, 
many weighty arguments were urged against 
it, especially by Governor Powmall and Mr. 
Dowdswell, it was carried on the 2d of May, 
by a majority of 239 against 64 voices. In 
the House of Lords it was severely animad- 
verted upon ; but a division of 92 to 20 evinced 
that the majority of the peers of the realm 
entered heartily into the views of the ministry 
as to coercing the American colonies. 

The Duke of Richmond, however, and 
eleven other peers, protested against it for 
the following reasons ; " Because, before the 
rights of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
which they derive from their charter, are 
taken away, the definite legal offence by 
which a forfeiture of their charter is incurred 
ought to have been clearly stated, and the 
parties heard in their own defence ; and the 
mere celerity of a decision against it will not 
reconcile the minds of the people to that 
mode of government which is to be establish- 
ed upon its ruins. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 63 

" On the general allegations of a declaratory 
preamble, the rights of any public body may 
be taken away, and any visionary scheme of 
government substituted in their place. By 
this bill, the governor and council are invested 
with dangerous powers, unknown to the Brit- 
ish constitution, and with which the king him- 
self is not intrusted. By the appointment 
and rernoval of the sheriff at pleasure, they 
have the means of returning such 'juries as 
may best suit with the gratification of their 
passions and their interests ; the life, liberty, 
and property of the subject are put into their 
hands without control. 

" The weak, inconsistent, and injudicious 
measures of the ministry have given new 
force to the distractions of America, which, on 
the repeal of the stamp-act, were subsiding ; 
have revived dangerous questions, and grad- 
ually estranged the affections of the colonies 
from the mother country. To render the col- 
onies permanently advantageous, they must 
be satisfied with their condition ; that satisfac- 
tion there is no chance of restoring, but by 
recurring to the principles on which the re- 
peal of the stamp-act was founded." 

The Boston port-act, and the act for re- 
modelling the constitution of Massachusetts, 
were strong and severe measures, — measures 
which, it might have been conceived, would 
have set at rest any common jealousy of pop- 
ular rights, and satisfied any ordinary thirst for 



64 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

vengeance. But, while these acts were in 
progress, the British prime minister held in 
reserve another vial of wrath to pour on the 
heads of the refractory colonists. On the 
15th of April, he rose in his place and pro- 
posed a third bill, which, he hoped, would ef- 
fectually secure the province of Massachu- 
setts Bay from future disturbances. The ten- 
or of this bill, which bore the plausible title 
of a bill " for the impartial administration of 
justice," was, that "in case of any person 
being indicted for murder or any other capi- 
tal offence committed in the province of Mas- 
sachusetts in aiding the magistracy, the gov- 
ernor might send the person so indicted to 
another colony or to Great Britain for trial ;" 
the act to continue in force for four years. 

It was observed, that while Lord North 
was moving the House for leave to bring in 
this bill, and was attempting, in a short speech, 
to enforce its necessity, his voice faltered. 
This is not matter of surprise. His lordship 
was a good-tempered and humane man ; and 
it must have been repugnant to his better 
feelings to become the organ for the propos- 
ing of such atrocious measures. 

The introduction of this bill roused in op- 
position to it the energies of Colonel Barre, 
who had, however unwillingly, acquiesced in 
the preceding laws of coercion. He saw 
clearly the drift of the proposed statute, and 
was well aware that the colonists wciuld not 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 05 

submit to it. " You may," said he, " think 
that a law founded on this motion wdll be a 
protection to the soldier who imbrues his 
hand in the blood of his fellow-subjects. I 
am mistaken if it will. Who is to execute 
it? He must be a bold man, indeed, who 
will make the attempt. If the people are so 
exasperated, that it is unsafe to bring the 
man who has injured them to trial, let the 
governor who withdraws him from justice 
look to himself The people will not endure 
it ; they would no longer deserve the reputa- 
tion of being descended from the loins of 
Englishmen if they did endure it." 

Such was the bold language of an experi- 
enced soldier, who knew America well. But 
this warning voice was raised in vain. The 
views of the Court were adopted by both 
Houses of Parliament, and this last and most 
unconstitutional measure of coercion was 
passed into a law. 

The Earl of Chatham was unable to attend 
the House until the bills had been passed, 
but he took occasion to raise a warning voice 
against them on a subsequent agitation of the 
matter. 

" I condemn," said he, " in the severest 
manner, the turbulent and unwarrantable 
conduct of the Americans, in some instances, 
particularly in the late riots at Boston ; but, 
my lords, the mode which has been pursued 
to bring them back to a sense of their duty, 

G* 



66 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

is SO diametrically opposite to every princi- 
pie of sound policy, as to excite my utmost 
astonishment. You have involved the guilty 
and the innocent in one common punishment, 
and avenge the crime of a few lawless depre- 
dators upon the whole body of the inhabit- 
ants. 

" My lords, it has always been my fixed and 
unalterable opinion, and I will carry it with 
me to the grave, that this country has no 
right under heaven to tax America. It is 
contrary to all the principles of justice and 
civil policy ; it is contrary to that essential, 
unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the 
British constitution as a fundamental law, 
that Avhat a man has honestly acquired is ab- 
solutely his own, which he may freely give, 
but which cannot be taken away from him 
without his consent." 

It might seem just and equitable that com- 
pensation should be made by a delinquent 
community for property destroyed within its 
precincts, and not unreasonable that a town 
which had perpetrated an open violation of 
fiscal law, should be deprived, till it was re- 
duced to a better spirit, of the privileges of a 
port. Nor is it improbable that, had the 
British ministry proceeded no further in their 
measures of vengeance, the other commercial 
cities of the colonies would have regarded 
the humiliation of the people of Boston with 
indifference. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 6^ 

But the attack upon the charter of Massa- 
chusetts filled the bosom of every North 
American with indignation and alarm. Char- 
ters they had been accustomed to consider as 
inviolable compacts between the king and 
his people ; but if these could be annulled 
and abrogated by parliament, what province 
could deem its constitution safe from viola- 
tion ? And in the provision for the trial in 
Great Britain of individuals accused of mur- 
ders committed in America, they saw an in- 
demnity for every one who might avail him- 
self of a plausible pretext to put to death any 
person who might be obnoxious to govern- 
ment. 

Such were the feelings of the colonists. 
But, on this side of the Atlantic, these in- 
vasions of the liberties of fellow-subjects were 
regarded with unconcern, and even with sat- 
isfaction. The people of Great Britain gen- 
erally care little about the internal state of 
the distant possessions of the crown. They 
at that time looked up to parliament with 
awe, as a threefold body vested with the at- 
tribute of omnipotence ; and they made them- 
selves a party in the quarrel, reprobating the 
refractory spirit of the colonies as a rebellion 
against the sovereign authority, of which they 
imagined that every individual Briton had a 
share. 



68 AiMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



SECTION VIII. 

REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OP GOVERNMENT FROM 
BOSTON. 

When intelligence arrived at Boston of the 
strong proceedings of tlie British parliament 
and government, the patriots of Massachu- 
setts cast an anxious eye on the sister colo- 
nies. They were well aware that, if left to 
themselves at this awful crisis, they must 
succumb to the power of the mother country ; 
but they entertained hopes that a union of the 
provinces against what they regarded as min- 
isterial oppression, would rescue their com- 
mon liberties from destruction. To eifect 
this union they used the utmost exertions of 
activity, skill, and prudence. 

The opposition to the stamp-act and to the 
duty on tea, had been carried on by means of 
committees of correspondence, which had es- 
tablished links of connection throughout the 
whole of the British dependencies in North 
America. Of this organization they now 
availed themselves with the utmost prompti- 
tude ; and, by the mission of agents of consum- 
mate ability, they roused the inhabitants of 
every district of continental America to a 
sense of their wrongs. Public meetings were 
held in every township of every province. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 69 

in which it was resolved to make common 
cause with the people of Massachusetts, and 
to resist the claim of the British parliament 
to tax them without their consent. The steps 
to be taken in pursuance of these resolutions, 
they unanimously agreed to refer to a gene- 
ral congress, the speedy summoning of which 
they declared to be absolutely necessary to 
the public safety. 

Virginia came nobly to the succor of Mas- 
sachusetts in her adversity. The house of 
burgesses appointed the first day of June, 
the day on which the Port Bill was to go into 
effect, as a day of "fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer," in consideration of the " hostile in- 
vasion of the city of Boston, in our sister 
colony of Massachusetts," — " devoutly to im- 
plore the divine interposition for averting the 
heavy calamity which threatens destruction 
to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war ; 
to give us one heart and one mind, firmly to 
oppose, hy all just and proper means, every 
injury to American rights." 

In the mean time. General Gage had ar- 
rived at Boston, invested with the united au- 
thority of governor and commander-in-chief 
of the forces. He was speedily followed by 
two regiments of foot, and by various other 
detachments, which gradually swelled his gar- 
rison to a number which was deemed amply 
sufficient to overawe the malcontents, and to 
enforce the execution of the obnoxious acts. 



70 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Soon after his arrival, he announced his 
intention of holding the general court of the 
colony at Salem after the 1st of June, the 
day appointed by the statute for the com- 
mencement of the operation of the Boston port- 
act. The blow thus struck seemed to common 
observers to be fatal to the inhabitants of that 
devoted tov^^n. Property w^as instantly depreci- 
ated to the lowest scale of value. Houses were 
deserted by their tenants ; warehouses were 
emptied and abandoned ; the quays were de- 
serted ; silence reigned in the ship-yards, and 
thousands of artificers wandered through the 
streets destitute of employ. 

But the sufferers bore their distresses with 
a sullen resolution. Not a murmur was heard 
against the democratic leaders, who might in 
a certain sense be regarded as the authors of 
their miseries ; but their execrations of the 
British parliament were loud and violent. 
Contributions poured in from all quarters for 
their relief ; and they were comforted by let- 
ters of condolence in their distresses, and of 
thanks for their steadiness. The inhabitants 
of Marblehead offered to accommodate the 
merchants of Boston with their warehouses ; 
and the people of Salem, in an address to the 
governor, declared that they could not " in- 
dulge one thought to seize on wealth, and 
raise their fortunes on the ruin of their suffer- 
ing neighbors." 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 71 

SECTION IX. 

FIRST ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT CONCORD. 

On the 7th of June, the governor held the 
general court of Massachusetts, at Salem ; 
but finding that the popular leaders were 
prepared on the first day of its meeting to 
carry some most obnoxious motions, he prompt- 
ly dissolved the assembly. This, however, 
he did not effect before it had nominated five 
deputies to meet the committees of other 
provinces at Philadelphia on the ensuing 1st 
of September. 

The circumstances attending this crisis 
were rather amusing. Upon the very open- 
ing of the assembly, it was resolved to send 
deputies to the proposed general congress. 
When General Gage learned what the House 
of Representatives were doing on this occa- 
sion, he sent to dissolve them ; but they, with 
equal alertness, being informed of his design, 
closed their doors. Samuel Adams secured 
the key, and they finished their proceedings 
while the proclamation of dissolution was 
read upon the stairs. 

The more, indeed, he exerted himself to 
embarrass the proceedings of the patriots, the 
more decidedly did he find himself baffled by 
their vigilance and their ingenuity. When, 



73 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

according to the provisions of the coercive 
statutes, he issued a proclamation prohibiting 
the calling of any town meetings after the 1st 
of August, 1774, an assembly of this kind 
was, nevertheless, held ; and, on his sum- 
moning the selectmen to aid him to disperse 
it, he was encountered by the following no- 
table specimen of special pleading, — that 
the holding of the meeting to which he ob- 
jected was no violation of the act of par- 
liament, " for that only prohibited the calling 
of town meetings, and that no such call had 
been made ; a former legal meeting, before 
the 1st of August, having only adjourned 
themselves from time to time." 

One consequence of these adjourned meet- 
ings was a " solemn league and covenant," 
whereby the parties who signed it bound 
themselves " to suspend all commercial inter- 
course with Great Britain until the late ob- 
noxious laws were repealed, and the colony 
of Massachusetts was restored to its chartered 
rights." A proclamation by which the gov- 
ernor denounced this association as " unlaw- 
ful, hostile, and traitorous," was treated with 
contempt. In another proclamation, publish- 
ed about this time, " for the encouragement 
of piety and virtue, and for the prevention 
and punishing of vice, profaneness, and im- 
morality," the governor made especial men- 
tion of the vice of hypocrisy, as a failing 
which the people were admonished to eschew. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTIOIC. 73 

No doubt, the staff of General Gage thought 
this an excellent satire upon the puritanism 
of the Bostonians. But the joke was ill-timed, 
and served only to add fuel to the popular 
mind, which was already in a high state of 
inflammation. When, in the month of Au- 
gust, Gage attempted to organize the new 
constitution of the colony, most of the coun- 
sellors whom he appointed refused to act, and 
the juries declined to serve under judges 
nominated by the crown. 

Dreading the most serious consequences 
from the obstinacy thus manifested by the 
people of Massachusetts, the governor thought 
it prudent to fortify Boston Neck, and to seize 
the powder deposited in the arsenal at Charles- 
town, which is a kind of suburb to Boston.* 
These measures produced a general rising 
throughout the province, which was with 
difliculty repressed by the prudence of the 
leading patriots. This demonstration drove 
the governor and his revenue officers from 
the new seat of government to the proscribed 
town of Boston. 

While these transactions were going on, 
the Congress, or union of the several com- 
mittees, had assembled at Philadelphia, and, 
as the first fruits of its deliberations, issued a 
declaration, that it " most thoroughly approv- 
ed the wisdom and fortitude with which op- 

• To which it is now united by a bridge. 

7 



74 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

position to wicked ministerial measures had 
been hitherto established in Massachusetts ; 
and recommended perseverance in the same 
firm and temperate conduct, as expressed in 
the resolutions of the delegates from the 
county of Suffolk." 

The tenor of these resolutions was, that 
no obedience was due to the restraining stat- 
utes. Emboldened by the approbation of 
Congress to act up to the spirit of these reso- 
lutions, a provincial assembly, held at Con- 
cord, of which Mr. Hancock was president, 
after having in vain solicited the governor to 
desist from constructing a fortress at the en- 
trance into Boston, in defiance of his excel- 
lency's authority, appointed a committee to 
draw up a plan for the arming of the prov- 
ince. The members of this committee did not 
shrink from the discharge of their perilous 
duty. They gave instructions for the organ- 
izing of a species of partisans, under the 
name of minute-men, the command of whom 
was conferred on Jedediah Preble, Artemas 
Ward, and Seth Pomeroy, warriors whose pu- 
ritanical names gave ominous foreboding of 
a determination of purpose and of an obsti- 
nacy of valor, which their future conduct did 
not belie. 

The assembling of the militia was delega- 
ted to a committee of safety ; and a commit- 
tee of supply was authorized to expend the 
sum of £15,000 sterling, in provisions, mill- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 75 

tary accoutrements, and stores, whicli were 
accordingly provided, and deposited at Wor- 
cester and Concord. At a later meeting of 
the provincial congress, still bolder measures 
were adopted. Resolutions were then passed 
to raise an army of 12,000 men, and delegates 
were sent to the adjacent colonies to urge 
them to increase these forces to the number 
of 20,000. 

It was, moreover, determined that the Brit- 
ish troops should be attacked if they marched 
in field equipment beyond Boston Neck. A 
circular letter was also issued requesting the 
clergy to aid the common cause by their 
prayers and exhortations. At this crisis the 
situation of the governor was far from being 
an enviable one. The reins of authority had 
fallen from his hands, and had been seized by 
the provincial congress, whose resolutions 
had throughout the province the force of 
laws. 

At the approach of winter he experienced 
the utmost difficulty in procuring materials or 
w^orkmen to construct barracks for the shel- 
tering of his troops. The straw which he 
purchased in the vicinity of the town was set 
on fire, and the timber which he had bought 
for the king's stores was seized or destroyed. 
Nor was the spirit of open resistance confined 
to Boston. In Rhode Island the people seized 
the public battery of forty pieces of cannon, 
and stormed and took the castle of Ports- 



76 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

mouth, where they obtained a seasonable sup- 
ply of powder. 



SECTION X. 

OPENING OF THE CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA. 

These active measures, which amounted to 
a direct levying of war against the king, were 
provoked by the rigor exercised against the 
colony of Massachusetts. In the mean time, 
the deputies of eleven provinces had assem- 
bled in congress at Philadelphia, and were 
soon joined by delegates from North Carolina. 
Peyton Randolph was chosen president of this 
assembly, and Charles Thomson was appoint- 
ed its secretary. 

After a slight controversy as to the mode 
of voting, which was at length determined to 
be taken by provinces, each province having 
one vote, the members proceeded with the 
utmost zeal and harmony to the arduous bu- 
siness before them. In the first place, they 
issued a declaration of rights, in which, while 
they claimed a total exemption from any 
species of internal taxation imposed by the 
British parliament, they professed their wil- 
lingness to obey all the laws which might be 
enacted in the mother country for the regula- 
tion of trade. They protested against the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 77 

introduction of a standing army into the col- 
onies without their consent, as also against 
the violation of their chartered rights in the 
infringement of their ancient constitutions. 

Enumerating the several acts by which 
they were aggrieved, they declared that till 
these acts were repealed, they and their con- 
stituents would hold no commercial inter- 
course with Britain ; and with a view of 
overawing the weak and the wavering, and 
the partisans of royal authority among their 
countrymen, they resolved that committees 
should be chosen in eveiy county, city, and 
town, to observe the conduct of all people 
toucliing the suspension of trade with the 
mother country, and to publish, in gazettes, 
the names of those who violated this ordi- 
nance, as foes to the rights of British Amer- 
ica. 

They also agreed upon an address to the 
British people, vindicating their resistance to 
oppression ; and two memorials to the West 
India colonies and to the people of Canada, 
exhorting them to unite with their persecuted 
brethren in a steady opposition to the encroach- 
ments of arbitrary power. In laying their 
grievances before the throne, in a petition to 
the king, they professed sentiments of loyalty 
to his majesty's person and authority ; but 
complained of the miseries which had been 
brought upon them by the maladministration 

of wicked ministers. 

7* 



78 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

" We ask," said they, " but for peace, liber- 
ty, and safety. We wish not a diminution of 
the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant 
of any new right in our favor. Your royal 
authority over us, and our connection with 
Great Britain, we shall always carefully and 
zealously endeavor to support and maintain.** 
This address to the sovereign concluded in 
the following pathetic terms. " We implore 
your majesty, for the honor pf Almighty God, 
for your own glory, for the interest of your 
family, for the safety of your kingdoms and 
dominions, that, as the loving father of your 
whole people, connected by the same bonds 
of law, loyalt}^ faith, and blood, though 
dwelling in various countries, you will not 
suffer the transcendent relation formed by 
these ties to be further violated by uncertain 
expectation of effects, which, if attained, never 
could compensate for the calamities through 
which they must be gained." 

These various documents were drawn up 
with great judgment and ability ; and their 
dissemination throughout the union produced 
a powerful effect upon the feelings of the 
people, preparing them for the most strenuous 
exertions in what they deemed to be the 
cause of justice and freedom. 

Their framers, however, did not rel}^ upon 
their eloquence alone, to produce an effect 
favorable to their cause upon the people of 
Britain. Their non-importation agreements 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 79 

had produced the repeal of the stamp-act, and 
they trusted that the annunciation of similar 
resolutions would produce similar effects as 
to the removal of their late parliamentary 
grievances. 

The event proved that they were mistaken. 
The merchants trading to America composed 
a small fraction of the British community. 
A hostile ministry was all-powerful in parlia- 
ment — the pride of the king was touched — 
every individual Briton, in whose mouth the 
phrase our colonies was familiar, deemed him- 
self, in some sort, sovereign over the North 
American plantations, and a cry almost unan- 
imous was raised throughout the nation, that 
the mutinous contemners of the omnipotence 
of the legislature of the parent state, must 
be reduced to obedience by the strong hand 
of coercion. 

The Congress, after a session of about eight 
weeks, and after passing a resolution for the 
calling of another assembly of the same na- 
ture, if necessary, in the ensuing May, dis- 
solved themselves ; and the members pro- 
ceeded to further, in their respective prov 
inces, the cause in which they were thus de- 
cidedly embarked. By their influence, ope- 
rating upon minds ready prepared by perpet- 
ual discussions, both public and private, of 
the wrongs of the colonies, the recommenda- 
tions of an assembly, invested with no legal 
authority, obtained the force of laws. The 



80 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

non-intercourse agreements were zealously , 
adopted by the great mass of the people ; 
and the few who ventured to dissent from 
the general voice, were proscribed as ene- 
mies to their country. 

Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords, 
passed upon the congress of Philadelphia 
this noble eulogium. " For myself, I must de- 
clare and avow, that in all my reading and 
observation — and history has been my favor- 
ite study — I have read Thucydides and have 
studied and admired the master states of the 
world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of 
sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no nation 
or body of men can stand in preference to the 
general congress of Philadelphia." 



SECTION XI. 

ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 9tH OP 
FEBRUARY, 1775. 

When the petition from Congress to the 
king arrived in England, his majesty had just 
met a new parliament, to which he had com- 
municated information, in a speech from the 
throne, " that a most daring spirit of resist- 
ance and disobedience to the laws -unhappily 
prevailed in the colony of Massachusetts ;" 
and at the same time intimated that he had 
taken the requisite steps to repress it. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 81 

Notwithstanding this angry demonstration, 
hopes were, for a short time, entertained by 
the friends of America that ministers would 
adopt measures of conciliation. The secre- 
tary of state, after submitting the petition of 
the general congress to the cabinet council, 
presented it to the king, by whom, as he re- 
ported, it was graciously received, and was 
intended to be laid by him before his two 
houses of parliament ; numerous petitions 
from the merchants and manufacturers of the 
principal towns in the kingdom, and from the 
West India planters, prayed for the adoption 
of a more lenient policy towards the North 
American colonies ; all the eloquence of Lord 
Chatham was exerted in the House of Peers 
to effect the same object ; yet Lord North 
was determined to proceed in the course of 
coercion. 

The Rubicon was passed on the 9th of Feb- 
ruary, 1775, by the presentation by both 
houses of a joint address to the king, in which 
they stated it as their opinion, that " a rebel- 
lion actually existed in the province of Mas- 
sachusetts ;" and, in the usual style, offered to 
hazard their lives and fortunes, " in the main- 
tenance of the just rights of his majesty and 
the two houses of parliament." In support 
of this address, an addition was voted to the 
military force, of 4,383 rank and file, and 
2,000 seamen. 

An act was also passed to restrain the com- 



82 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

merce of the eastern colonies to Great Britain 
Ireland, and the British West Indies ; and to 
prevent them from fishing on the Banks of 
Newfoundland, under certain conditions, and 
for a limited time. The provisions of this 
act were soon afterwards extended to the 
provinces of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Virginia, and South Carolina. 

It is to be remarked, that New York, Dele- 
ware, and North Carolina, did not on this occa- 
sion fall under the ban of ministerial interdic- 
tion. New York, where the government had 
more influence than in other colonies, had been 
tardy in joining the union ; and Lord North 
flattered himself that, by forbearing to include 
that and the other two colonies abovemen- 
tioned in the restraining act, he should sow 
among the associated provinces jealousies 
which would dissolve their connection ; but 
in this he was disappointed. 

So powerful was the spirit of patriotism in 
America, that the inhabitants of the exempted 
colonies disdained to avail themselves of the 
privileges which were reserved to them, 
and determined to share in the restrictions 
imposed on their brethren ; and it was with 
severe mortification that the premier soon af- 
terwards witnessed the presentation to the 
House of Commons of a* petition and remon- 
strance from the assembly of New York, 
claiming exemption from internal taxation, 
and protesting against the dependence of 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 83 

governors and judges on the crown for their 
salaries and emohiments. 

A hearing had been refused to the petition 
of Congress, though it was individually sign- 
ed, under the pretext that it emanated from 
an illegal meeting. The remonstrance of the 
New York assembly was not liable to this 
objection ; but when a motion was made in 
the House of Commons that it should be 
brought up, it was lost by a stratagem of 
Lord North. 

On the 20th of February, 1775, some time 
previously to the transaction which has just 
been related, his lordship had manifested 
some cunning, but little wisdom, in propos- 
ing a resolution to the effect, that when any 
of the colonies or provinces in America 
should make provision for cc«tributing their 
proportion to the common defence, and for 
the support of their civil government, (such 
proportion to be raised under the authority 
of the general court or general assembly of 
such province and colony,) " it will be proper 
to forbear in respect of such colony or prov- 
ince, to levy any duty or tax, except such du- 
ties as may arise for the regulation of com- 
merce, which duties are to be carried to the 
account of such colony or province." 

The bill founded on this resolution was vio- 
lently opposed by certain of the prime minis- 
ter's habitual partisans, who insisted oh it 
that the colonies should be taxed directly by 



84 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

the British parliament. It was also attacked 
by the opposition, who argued that as it re- 
served to the British government the right of 
apportioning the respective proportions which 
the provinces should raise for the general 
service, and left the disposal of the sums 
raised to parliament, it mattered little that 
the immediate application of the scourge of 
taxation should be left to the colonial assem- 
blies, who would regard the bill as an insult 
and a wrong. 

The opposition made a right estimate of 
the feelings of the Americans. The bill pass- 
ed into a law ; but it was received through- 
out the Union with abhorrence and contempt. 

It was in this session, viz. on the 22d of 
March, 1775, that Mr. Burke made his cele- 
brated speech for conciliation with America. 
— a speech fraught with statesman-like views, 
expressed in language at once temperate and 
eloquent. At the commencement of this 
deeply-studied oration, Mr. Burke, after ob- 
serving that all former measures recommend- 
ed by the ministry and adopted by parliament 
had served to no other purpose but to keep 
America in a state of agitation, intimated 
that it had been observed to him by an intel- 
ligent friend, that, instead of limiting himself 
to criticisms on the plans of government, it 
was highly expedient that he should produce 
a plan of his own. 

Though he was aware, said he, that it ar 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 85 

gues little knowledge to hazard plans of gov- 
ernment, except from a seat of authority, yet, 
as public calamity was a migthy leveller, he 
would now act upon his friend's suggestion. 
" My proposition," proceeded he, " is peace ; 
not peace through the medium of war ; nor 
peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of 
intricate and endless negotiations ; nor peace 
to arise out of universal discord, fomented 
from principle in all parts of the empire ; not 
peace to depend upon the juridical determi- 
nation of perplexing questions, or the precise 
marking of the shadowy boundaries of a com- 
plex government. It is simple peace, sought 
in its natural course and in its ordinary 
haunts, — it is peace sought in the spirit of 
peace, and laid in principles purely pacific. 

" I propose, by removing the ground of the 
difference, and by restoring the former unsus- 
pecting confidence of the colonies in the 
mother country, to give permanent satisfac- 
tion to your people, and, far from a scheme 
of ruling by discord, to reconcile them to 
each other in the same act, and by the bond 
of the very same interest which reconciles 
them to British government." 

After laying down and enforcing the posi- 
tion that the proposal for reconciliation ought, 
in consideration of her strength, to come 
from Great Britain, Mr. Burke asserted, that 
the plan for conciliation ought to be guided, 
not by abstract theory, but by a regard to 

8 



86 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

circumstances. What, then, were the cir- 
cumstances of the present case ? In the first 
place, the discontented Americans amounted 
in number to two millions, a number which, 
considered in mass, could not be regarded "as 
a paltry excrescence of the state, or a mean 
dependant, who may be neglected with little 
damage, and provoked with little danger." 
But, with the consideration of the population 
of America, it was requisite to combine ma- 
ture reflection upon other circumstances ; as, 
for instance, the commerce, the agriculture, 
and the fisheries of the colonies. 

As to commerce, Mr. Burke proved, by 
documentary evidence, that, at the beginning 
of the century, of six millions which consti- 
tuted the whole mass of the export com- 
merce of Great Britain, the colony trade was 
but one twelfth part ; but that, by the last 
returns submitted to parliament, it appeared 
that, as a part of sixteen millions, it consti- 
tuted considerably more than a third of the 
whole. In agriculture, he asserted that Amer- 
ica was so prosperous that she was enabled 
to export vast quantities of grain for the sup- 
ply of the mother country. 

As to the third head of consideration, " no 
sea," exclaimed the orator, " but is vexed by 
the fisheries of the colonists, no climate that 
is not witness to their toils. Neither the per- 
severance of Holland, nor the activity of 
France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 87 

of English enterprise, ever carried this most 
perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent 
to which it has been pushed by this recent 
people, — a people who are still, as it were, 
but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into 
the bone of manhood." 

But, continued Mr. Burke, some persons 
will say, such a country is worth fighting for, 
— true, — but fighting will not retain it. Force 
is uncertain, and, if successful, it will depre- 
ciate the object gained. He warned the 
House to consider the temper and character 
of the people with whom many ill-advised 
individuals seemed so eager to contend. The 
North American colonists were jealous of 
their liberties. Their jealousy as to their 
rights they derived from their English origin ; 
it was nursed by their popular legislatures, — 
it w^as also nursed by their religion. The 
great body of the colonists were dissenters, 
and, the dissenting interests have sprung up 
in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers 
, of the world, and can justify that opposition 
only on a strong claim to natural liberty. 

" All protestantism," Mr. Burke acutely re- 
marked, — " All protestantism, even the most 
cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But 
the religion most prevalent in our northern 
colonies, is a refinement on the principle of 
resistance ; it is the dissidence of dissent, and 
the protestantism of the protestant religion." 

The spirit of freedom was, moreover, nur- 



88 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tured in the colonies, in general, by education ; 
and in Virginia and the Carolinas by that 
pride which uniformly actuates the holders 
of slaves, " to whom freedom is not only an 
enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege." 
Their distance from the mother country like- 
wise rendered the colonists less disposed to 
submit to the dictation of the parent state. 
This happens in all forms into which empire 
can be thrown. In large bodies the circula- 
tion of power must be less vigorous at the 
extremities." A proud spirit of liberty hav- 
ing from these various causes been infused 
throughout the colonies, in consequence of 
which they have not only disobeyed our au- 
thority, but established an efficient authority 
of their own, by means of which a vast prov- 
ince has subsisted for near a twelvemonth, 
without governor, without public council, 
without judges, without executive magis- 
trates, the question arises, how is this spirit 
to be encountered ? 

Some politicians have, in this emergency, 
proposed to check the population of the colo- 
nies by stopping the grant of more lands by 
the crown. Others have advised that their 
maritime enterprises should be checked by 
the severity of restrictive laws; while a third 
class of counsellors are sanguine in fheir ex- 
pectations, that the Virginians and the plant- 
ers of the Carolinas will speedily be reduced 
to submission by the emancipation of their 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 89 

slaves. Some, again, went so far as to talk 
of prosecuting the refractory as criminals. 

After demonstrating at length the futility 
of these proposals, Mr. Burke affirmed, that 
the only method left of putting an end to the 
existing troubles, was that of conciliation. 
The Americans, said he, complain of taxa- 
tion, — I will not on this matter dispute the 
point of right, but that of policy. " The 
question is not whether you have a right to 
render your people miserable, but whether it 
is not your interest to make them happy. It 
is not what a lawyer may tell you, you may 
do, but what humanity, reason, and justice 
declare you ought to do." 

Having thus laid down the principle of his 
plan, Mr. Burke began to open it by declar- 
ing, that his main object was to admit the 
people of the colonies to an interest in the 
constitution. The fact was, that the Ameri- 
cans did not object to the laws of trade ; nor 
did they aim at any thing more than a re- 
lease from taxation, imposed upon them by a 
legislative body in which their interests are 
not guarded by their representatives. Simi- 
lar uneasiness was for a long time prevalent 
in Ireland, in Wales, and in the counties pal- 
atine of Chester and Durham. 

Now the agitations of Ireland were quelled 
by the establishment of a separate legislature 
for that country, while the feuds which pre- 
vailed in Chester and Durham were annihi- 

8* 



90 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

lated by the admission of representatives of 
those counties into the English parliament. 
Let a similar policy then be exercised towards 
America. In her case, let taxation and rep- 
resentation go hand in hand. But the dis- 
tance between the colonies and the mother 
country precludes the Americans from send- 
ing representatives to the British legisla- 
ture. 

What remains, then, but to recognise for 
the theory the ancient constitution and policy 
of this kingdom with regard to representation, 
and as to the practice, to return to that mode 
which a uniform experience has marked out 
to you as best, and in which you walked with 
security, advantage, and honor, until the year 
1763. " My resolutions, therefore," continued 
Mr. Burke, " mean to establish the equity and 
justice of a taxation of America hy grant, and 
not by imposition ; to mark the legal compe- 
tency of the colony assemblies for the sup- 
port of their government in peace, and for 
the public aids in the time of war ; to ac- 
knowledge that this legal competency has 
had a dutiful and beneficial exercise, and 
that experience has shown the benefit of their 
grants, and the futility of parliamentary tax- 
ation as a measure of supply." 

After opening these points at considerable 
length, and with transcendent ability, Mr. 
Burke concluded by moving a series of reso- 
lutions, in which their substance was embed- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 91 

ied. This masterly speech, in the meditation 
and composition of which Mr. Burke, in the 
earnestness of his wish to point out to the 
members of the House of Commons the true 
line of colonial policy, seems to have chasten- 
ed and checked the exuberance of his genius, 
was spoken to the members alone, as during 
the debate the standing orders for the exclu- 
sion of strangers were strictly enforced. 

It was answered by Mr. Jenkinson, who 
professed serious alarm at the proposition, 
that any public body, save parliament, was 
entitled to make grants of money to the 
crown. These constitutional scruples had 
their due weight, and Mr. Burke's resolutions 
were negatived by a majority of 270 to 78. 

About this time, Dr. Franklin, in a kind of 
demi-official communication with ministers, 
endeavored to effect a reconciliation between 
the colonies and the parent state. In the dis- 
cussions which took place with this view be- 
tween the doctor and the agents of the min- 
istry, most of the points in dispute were set- 
tled ; but the obstinate refusal of the cabinet 
to restore the ancient constitution of Massa- 
chusetts broke off* the conferences ; and Dr. 
Franklin, despairing of the preservation of 
peace, returned to his native land, determined 
to share the fortunes of his countrymen, and, 
at all hazards, to devote his talents to the 
maintenance of their rights. 

In America, the approaching conflict be- 



92 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

came daily more apparent. Boston, as the? 
head-quarters of the army, was particularly 
exposed to collisions with them ; and in anti- 
cipation, every exertion was made to procure 
arms and ammunition. Cannon, cannon balls 
powder, muskets, and military stores, were 
constantly introduced into the city by every 
artifice, and in every disguise. In New 
Hampshire a number of armed people seized 
on the powder in the royal castle of William 
and Mary. Colonel Leslie, who had been 
dispatched by Governor Gage to seize some 
cannon at Salem, was obstructed by the citi- 
zens until the cannon were removed beyond 
his reach, and he returned without succeed- 
ing in his object ; and in New York a riotous 
combat took place between the populace and 
the troops, in which the latter were beaten. 



SECTION XII. 

AFFAIR AT LEXINGTON, 19tH OF APRIL, 1775. 

It has already been stated, that the Mas- 
sachusetts patriots had resolved to attack 
the king's forces whenever they should march 
out of Boston. On the 19th of April, 1775, 
their adherence to this resolution was put to 
the test. With a view of seizing the military 
stores and provisions which the insurgents 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 93 

had collected at Concord, General Gage, on 
the night preceding that eventful day, de- 
tached from his garrison 800 picked men, 
under the command of Lieutenant-colonel 
Smith. 

These troops made a rapid march to the 
place of their destination, in hopes of taking 
the malcontents by surprise ; but notwith- 
standing their precautions, the alarm was 
given throughout the country, and the inhab- 
itants flew to arms. Between four and five 
o'clock on the morning of the 19th, the ad- 
vanced guard of the royal troops arrived at 
Lexington, where they found about 70 of the 
American militia under arms, whom Major 
Pitcairn ordered to disperse ; and on their 
hesitating to obey his commands, that officer 
discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers 
to fire. 

By the volley which ensued three or four of 
the militia were killed, and the rest put to 
flight. Lieutenant-colonel Smith then pro- 
ceeded to Concord, where he destroyed the 
stores of the insurgents, and then commenced 
his retreat towards Boston. He was not, 
however, permitted to make this retrograde 
movement without molestation. Before he 
left Concord he was attacked by the Ameri- 
can militia and minute-men, who accumula- 
ting by degrees, harassed his rear and flanks, 
taking advantage of every inequality of 
ground, and especially availing themselves of 



94 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



the stone walls which skirted the road, and 
which served them as intrencLments. 

Had not the detachment been met at Lex- 
ington by a body of 900 men, which General 
Gage had sent out to its support, under the 
command of Lord Percy, it would certainly 
have been cut off. The united British forces 
arrived, wearied and exhausted, at Bunker 
Hill, near Boston, a little after sunset, hav- 
ing sustained a loss of 65 killed, 180 wound- 
ed, and 28 prisoners.* 

* The following is a copy of a hand-bill issued immedi 
ately after the engagement at Concord and Lexington. 

A List of the NaiJies of the Provincials who were killed 
and wounded in the late engagement with his Majesty^s 
troops at Concord, ^c. 

KILLED. 

Of Danvers. 



Of Lexington. 
Mr. Robert Munroe, 
Mr. Jonas Parker, 
Mr. Samuel Hadley, 
Mr. Jonathan Harrington, 
Mr. Caleb Harrington, 
Mr. Isaac Muzzy, 
Mr. John Brown, 
Mr. John Raymond, 
Mr. Nathaniel Wyman, 
Mr. Jedediah Munroe. 

Of Menotomy. 
Mr. Jason Russel, 
Mr. Jabez Wyman, 
Mr. Jason Winship. 

Of Sudbury. 
Deacon Haynes, 
Mr. Reed. 



Mr. Henry Jacobs, 

Mr. Samuel Cook, 

Mr. Ebenezer Goldthwait, 

Mr. George Southwick, 

Mr. Benjamin Daland, jun. 

Mr. Jotham Webb, 

Mr. Perley Putnam. 

Of Salem. 
Mr. Benjamin Pierce. 

Of Charlestown. 
Mr. James Miller, 
Capt. William Barber's s«*i. 

Of Brookline. 
Isaac Gardner, Esq. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



95 



When Lord Percy, on his advance, was 
marching through Roxbury, his military band, 



* Of Concord. 
Capt. James Miles. 

Of Bedford. 
Capt. Jonathan Willson. 

Of Acton. 
Capt. Davis, 

Mr. Hosmer, 

Mr. James Howard. 

Of Wohurn. 
* Mr. Azael Porter, 
Mr. Daniel Thompson. 



Of Cambridge. 
Mr. John Hicks, 
Mr. Moses Richardson, 
Mr. William Massey. 

Of Medford. 
Mr. Henry Putnam. 

Of Lynn. 
Mr. Abednego Ramsdell, 
Mr. Daniel Townsend, 
Mr. William Flint, 
Mr. Thomas Hadley. 



WOUNDED. 



Of Lexington. 
Mr. John Robbins, 
Mr. John Tidd, 
Mr. Solomon Pierce, 
Mr. Thomas Winship, 
Mr. Nathaniel Farmer, 
Mr. Joseph Comee, 
Mr. Ebenezer Munroc, 
Mr. Francis Brown, 
Prince Easterbrooks, (a ne- 
gro man.) 

Of Framingham. 
Mr. Hemenway. 

Of Bedford. 
Mr John Lane. 

Of Wohurn. 
Mr. George Reed, 
Mr. Jacob Bacon. 



Of Medford. 
Mr. William Polly. 

Of Lynn. 
Mr. Joshua Felt, 
Mr. Timothy Munroe. 

Of Danvers. 
Mr. Nathan Putnam, 
Mr. Dennis WaUis. 

Of Beverly. 
Mr. Nathaniel Cleaves. 



MISSING. 

Of Menotomy. 
Mr. Samuel Frost, 
Mr. Seth Russel. 



Those distinguished with this mark [*] were killed by the 
first fire of the Regulars. 



96 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

in derision of the Americans, played the tune 
of " Yankee Doodle." His lordship observed 
a youth who appeared to be amused at this 
circumstance, and asking him why he laugh- 
ed, received this answer, — " To think how 
you will dance by-and-by to the tune of 
* Chevy Chase.' " It had been too much the 
habit of the British to despise and insult the 
Americans as cowards ; but the event of the 
march to Concord convinced them that the 
Massachusetts men were not deficient either 
in personal courage or in individual skill in 
the use of arms. 

The results were of the greatest moment 
The blow had been struck by which open 
war was commenced, under circumstances 
that aroused the universal indignation of the 
Americans, while the issue invigorated their 
spirits. They had rallied in great numbers 
at the signal of strife, and driven the regu- 
lars with loss, after baffling the object of their 
expedition. 



SECTION XIII. 

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 16tH OF JUNE, 1775. 

Blood having been thus drawn, the whole 
of the discontented colonies took prompt 
measures to resist the royal authority by force 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 97 

of arms. Volunteers enrolled themselves in 
every province ; and throughout the whole 
Union the king's stores were seized for the 
use of the insurgents. The surprisal of Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point by a party from 
Connecticut, under the command of Colonel 
Allen, furnished them with upwards of 100 
pieces of cannon, and a proportionable quan- 
tity of ammunition. Troops were gradually 
assembled in the towns and villages in the 
vicinity of Boston, so as to hold that town in 
a state of blockade. About the latter end 
of May, General Gage was reinforced by the 
troops which had been sent from Great Brit- 
ain, and which were accompanied by Gene- 
rals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton. 

Finding himself thus strengthened, he pre- 
pared for active operations ; but wishing to 
temper justice with mercy, on the 12th of 
June he issued a proclamation, offering par- 
don to all who would lay down their arms, 
with the exception of Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock, " whose offences," he declared, 
" were of too flagitious a nature to admit of 
any other consideration than that of condign 
punishment." 

This proclamation produced no effect on 
the Americans, save that of rousing them to 
more vigorous exertions. On Charlestown 
Neck, a peninsula situate*d to the north of 
Boston, with which it now communicates by 
a bridge, is a considerable eminence called 

9 



98 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOX. 

Bunker Hill. As this was deemed a post of 
great importance, the Americans resolved to 
occupy it, and orders were given by the pro- 
vincial authorities that a detachment of 1,000 
men should intrench themselves on the height 
in question. 

The party was accordingly moved forv^ard 
from Cambridge on the night of the 16th of 
June, but, by mistake, commenced their ope- 
rations on Breed's Hill, an eminence nearer 
to the town of Boston than the place of their 
destination. Here they labored with such 
activity, and at the same time with such si- 
lence, that the appearance of their works at 
daybreak, the next morning, was the first in- 
dication of their presence. 

The firing of guns from the Lively, man-of- 
war, whence they were first seen, gave the 
alarm to the British, whose commanders, on 
reconnoitering the position of the enemy from 
the steeples and heights of the city, perceived 
that they had thrown up a redoubt about eight 
rods square, from which lines extended to the 
eastward nearly to the bottom of the hill. 
To the westward the works were less perfect; 
but the provincials were busily .employed in 
carrying them on, notwithstanding they were 
exposed to showers of shot and shells discharg- 
ed from the vessels in the harbor. The necessi- 
ty of driving the en^my from their position was 
evident ; and for this purpose Gage put 3,000 
men under the command of General Howe. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 99 

On this occasion the British were not very 
alert in their preparations, as it was noon be- 
fore their troops were embarked in the boats 
which were to convey them to Moreton's Point, 
at the southern extremity of Charlestown 
Neck. At this awful crisis every elevated 
spot in the town of Boston was covered with 
spectators, who anxiously awaited the event 
of the expected contest. Their attention was 
first arrested by a dense smoke, which an- 
nounced that the British, fearing lest the 
houses of Charlestown might afford shelter 
to the provincials, had set that place on fire. 
Proceeding to Moreton's Point, the king's^ 
troops formed in two lines, and marched 
slowly up the hill, while their artillery played 
on the American works. 

The provincials stood firm and steady ; they 
reserved their fire till the British had advanced 
within sixty or seventy yards of their lines ; 
they then made a simultaneous discharge 
with so cool an aim, and supported their fire 
with so much steadiness, that the British gave 
way, and fled to the water's edge. Here they 
were rallied by their officers, and a second 
time led to the charge. A second time they 
retreated, and all seemed to be lost, when 
General Howe, aided by General Clinton, 
who, seeing his distress, had crossed over from 
Boston to join him, with difficulty persuaded 
them to make another onset, which was suc- 
cessful. 



100 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The Americans had expended their ammu- 
nition, and were unable to procure a fresh 
supply. Their redoubt being forced, they 
were compelled to retreat ; but though the 
road over Charlestown Neck, by which they 
retired, was enfiladed by the Glasgow, man- 
of-war, they withdrew with much less loss 
than might have been expected ; they left 
dead on the field 139 of their comrades, and 
their wounded and missing amounted to 314. 

Among the valuable lives which were sac- 
rificed in this battle, the Americans were 
sensibly affected by the loss of Dr. Warren, 
who was slain while standing on the redoubt, 
animating his fellow-soldiers to the most val- 
orous exertions. Warren was a man of emi- 
nent talents, and of most amiable manners in 
private and domestic life. He excelled as an 
orator, and he was wise and prudent in coun- 
cil, and the circumstances of his death evinced 
that he could act as well as speak, and that 
the mildness of his character was united with 
firm determination and undaunted courage. 

The British purchased their victory dearly, 
their loss amounting to 226 killed, and 828 
wounded, including 79 officers ; at this cost 
General Gage obtained little more than the 
field of battle. At the conclusion of the en- 
gagement he advanced to Bunker Hill, w hich 
he fortified ; while the Americans intrenched 
themselves on Prospect Hill, distant about a 
mile and a half from his lines. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 101 

Everywhere the tidings of the battles of 
Lexington and Bunker Hill stirred up a like 
determination to resist and annoy where they 
could not expel the British authorities. The 
militia were enrolled and armed in Maryland 
and Virginia and the two Carolinas. In July, 
Georgia had finally acceded to the confedera- 
tion, which then took the name of " The 
Thirteen United Colonies," and resistance be- 
came popular there. The South proper sent 
several companies of riflemen, at once, to the 
army at Boston ; and Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey contributed numerous recruits. In 
New York, a party of patriots seized and car- 
ried away the cannon from the battery, not- 
withstanding the deadly opposition from the 
British armed forces. And a kindred spirit 
was developed in every section of the coun- 
try. 



SECTION XIV. 

UNION OF THE THIRTEEN PROVINCES. HANCOCK AP- 
POINTED PRESIDENT, AND WASHINGTON COMMAND- 
ER-IN-CHIEF. 

When Colonel Allen appeared at the gates 
of Ticonderoga, on the 10th of May, he sum- 
moned that fortress '' in the name of the Great 

Jehovah and the continental Congress." On 

9* 



102 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the very day on which this summons was 
given, that body assembk^d, and had the sat- 
isfaction to find itself joined by delegates 
from Georgia, — so that the union of the thir- 
teen provinces was now completed. Peyton 
Randolph, Esq., was appointed president ; but 
urgent business soon after requiring his pres- 
ence at home, he was succeeded by Mr. Han- 
cock. 

After mature deliberation, the Congress 
agreed on addresses to the British nation, to 
the Canadians, to Ireland, and to the Island 
of Jamaica, in which they insisted upon the 
topics upon which they had antecedently 
dwelt in similar compositions. Fearful also 
lest, in case of the continuance of hostilities 
with the mother country, their frontier should 
be devastated by the Indians, a talk was pre- 
pared, in which the controversy between Great 
Britain and her colonies was explained in a 
familiar Indian style. They were told that 
"they had no concern in the family quarrel, 
and were urged by the ties of ancient friend • 
ship and a common birthplace, to remain at 
home, to keep their hatchet buried deep, and 
to join neither side." 

Such is the statement of Mr. Ramsay ; and 
so far as Congress is concerned, no doubt that 
respectable historian is correct. But had he 
carefully examined the official correspondence 
of General Washington, he would have found, 
from a letter of his dated Ausust 4, 1 775, that 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 103 

the American commander-in-cnief did not 
limit his views to neutrality on the part of the 
Indians, but that he took measures to secure 
the co-operation of the Caghnewaga tribe, in 
the event of any expedition being meditated 
against Canada. 

Still aiming, vi^itli however faint hopes, at 
conciliation, the Congress drew up another 
humble and pathetic petition to the king, 
which was delivered on the ensuing Septem- 
ber, by their agents, to Lord Dartmouth, the 
colonial secretary of state, who informed 
them that no answer would be returned to it. 
They did not, however, confine themselves to 
literary controversy, but took measures for 
depriving the British troops of supplies. They 
also resolved to raise an army sufficient to 
enable them to cope with the enemy, and is- 
sued, for its equipment and pay, bills of credit 
to the value of two millions of dollars. With 
a happy unanimity they appointed George 
Washington commander-in-chief of their 
forces. 

Soon after he received his commission, the 
general repaired to the head-quarters at 
Cambridge, in the vicinity of Boston, where 
he arrived on the 3d of July, and was receiv- 
ed with joyful acclamations by the troops. 
The army consisted of 14,500 men, and occu- 
pied cantonments so disposed as closely to 
beleaguer the enemy within Boston. The 
goldiers were hardy, active, and zealous. 



104 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

But still, when the general had minutely 
inspected the state of affairs, he found ample 
matter for serious reflection. He was desti- 
tute of a responsible commissariat to procure 
and dispense the necessary supplies. Many 
of the soldiers were ill-provided with arms. 
On the 4th of August, he was apprized of the 
alarming fact that his whole stock of powder 
would afford little more than nine rounds a 
man. 

On the settling of the rank of officers, also, 
he had to encounter the ill-humor of the am- 
bitious, who conceived that they were not 
promoted according to their merits. With 
his characteristic patience and assiduity, how- 
ever, he overcame these difficulties. By the 
influence of the respect which his character 
inspired, he reduced these jarring elements 
to some degree of order. His encampments 
were regularly supplied with provisions. By 
extraordinary exertions he procured a suffi- 
cient stock of ammunition and military stores ; 
and though the well-dressed scouting parties 
of the British who approached his lines could 
not repress a smile on seeing his soldiers 
equipped in hunting-shirts, the affair at 
Breed's Hil had taught them that a hand- 
some uniform is by no means essential to 
bravery in battle. 

On the 10th of October, General Gage re- 
signed the command of the British army to 
General Howe, and sailed for England in a 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 105 

vessel of war. Had he made the voyage in 
a transport, he would have rim some risk of 
being taken prisoner ; for towards the close 
of this year, (1775,) Congress fitted out seve- 
ral privateers, which were eminently success- 
ful in capturing the store-ships which had 
been sent from Great Britain with supplies 
for the royal army. These captures at once 
crippled the enemy and furnished the Ameri- 
cans with important requisites for carrying 
on the war. 



SECTION XV. 

INVASION OF CANADA. DEATH OF MONTGOMERY 

Nor were the offensive operations of the 
provincials confined to the sea. Having, as 
has been before related, obtained possession 
oi' Ticonderoga, which is the key of Canada, 
the Congress determined to invade that prov- 
ince, in the hope that its inhabitants would 
welcome the forces which they might send 
against it, as their deliverers from the yoke 
of oppression. They accordingly gave the 
command of 1,000 men to Generals Schuyler 
and Montgomery, with directions to march 
into Canada. 

When the expedition had advanced to the 
town of St. John's, Schuyler, in consequence 



106 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

of the bad state of his health, resigned the 
command to his associate, and returned home. 
In attacking St. John's, the commander of 
which made a brave defence, Montgomery 
experienced considerable difficulties in conse- 
quence of his want of the chief requisites for 
conducting a siege ; but he vanquished them 
all, and compelled the garrison, consisting of 
500 regulars and 100 Canadians, to surrender. 
During the progress of the siege, Sir Guy 
Carleton, the governor of Canada, had col- 
lected 800 men at Montreal, for the purpose 
of attacking the besieging army ; but he was 
driven back by a body of the Vermont militia, 
commanded by General Warner. 

Montgomery, therefore, proceeded to Mon- 
treal, the garrison of which attempted to es- 
cape down the river, but were intercepted 
and captured by the American Colonel Eas- 
ton : and Governor Carleton himself was so 
hard pressed, that he was glad to escape to 
Trois Rivieres, whence he proceeded to Que- 
bec. To this place he was pursued by Mont- 
gomery, who, in the course of his march, 
adopted the wisest measures to gain over the 
inhabitants of the province. With the peas- 
ants he succeeded ; but upon the priests and 
the seigneurs, or feudal lords, who foresaw 
that a revolution would be detrimental to 
their interests, he made little impression. 

While Montgomery was penetrating into 
Canada by the St. Lawrence General Arnold^ 



AMERICAN KEVOLUTION. 107 

who afterwards rendered himself infamous by 
his treachery, was advancing to co-operate 
with him by the way of the Kennebeck river 
and the Chaudiere. This route appears upon 
the map to be a very direct one ; but it was 
beset with formidable difficulties. In their 
voyage up the Kennebeck, Arnold and his 
comrades had to pull against a powerful 
stream interrupted by rapids, over which they 
were obliged to haul their boats with exces- 
sive labor. The space which intervenes be- 
tween the mouth of the Kennebeck and that 
of the Chaudiere was a wild and pathless 
forest, through a great part of which they 
were compelled to cut their way with hatch- 
ets ; and so scantily were they furnished with 
provisions, that when they had eaten their last 
morsel they had thirty miles to travel before 
they could expect any further supplies. 

In spite of these obstructions, Arnold per- 
severed in his bold enterprise ; and on the 8th 
of November he arrived at Point Levi, oppo- 
site Quebec ; and had he possessed the means 
of immediately passing the St. Lawrence, 
such was the panic occasioned by his unex- 
pected appearance, that it is probable that 
the city, in the absence of the governor 
would have surrendered to him. But while 
he was collecting craft to effect his passage, 
the inhabitants recovered from their conster- 
nation, the governor arrived, and the place 
was put in a posture of defence. 



108 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

On the 1st of December, Montgomery, hav- 
ing effected a junction with Arnold, broke 
ground before Quebec. But he labored un- 
der insuperable disadvantages. His forces 
^vere inferior in number to those of the garri- 
son. He was destitute of a proper battering 
train. His soldiers were daily sinking under 
the hardships of a Canadian winter ; and their 
term of enlistment was soon to expire. 

Seeing that no hopes were left, but that of 
the success of a desperate effort, he attempted 
to carry the city by assault, and had pene- 
trated to the second barrier, when he fell by 
a musket shot, leaving behind him the char- 
acter of a brave soldier, an accomplished 
gentleman, and an ardent friend of liberty. 
Arnold was carried wounded from the field ; 
but on the death of his friend he took the 
command of the remnant of his forces, which 
he encamped at the short distance of three 
miles from the city. 



SECTION XVI. 

EVACUATION OF BOSTON, MARCH 17, 1776. 

While these transactions were carrying on 
to the northward of the American continent, 
the inhabitants of the middle and southern 
provinces were employed in preparing for 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 109 

resistance against the demands of the British 
government, and in general compelled such 
of their governors as took any active meas- 
ures for the support of royal author! l}', to con- 
sult for their safety by taking refuge on board 
of ships of war. In Virginia, the imprudence 
of Lord Dunmore provoked open hostilities, 
in the course of which he burned the town of 
Norfolk. By this act, however, and by a pro- 
clamation, in which he promised freedom to 
such of the negroes as should join his stand- 
ard, he only irritated the provincials, without 
doing them any essential injury ; and being 
finally driven from the colony,, he returned to 
England. 

Towards the close of this year, the com- 
mander-in-chief of the American forces found 
himself in circumstances of extreme embar- 
rassment. " It gives me great distress," thus 
he wrote in a letter to Congress of the date 
of Sept. 21, 1775, "to be obliged to solicit the 
attention of the honorable Congress to the 
state of this army, in terms which imply the 
slightest apprehension of being neglected. 
But my situation is inexpressibly distressing, 
to see the winter fast approaching upon a 
naked army ; the time of their service within 
a few weeks of expiring ; and no provision 
yet made for such important events. 

" Added to these, the military chest is total- 
ly exhausted : the paymaster has not a single 
dollar in hand ; the commissary-general as- 

10 



110 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sures me he has strained his credit, for the 
subsistence of the army, to the utmost. The 
quarter-master-general is precisely in the 
same situation ; and the greater part of the 
troops are in a state not far from mutiny upon 
the deduction from their stated allowance." 
The fact is, that the troops had engaged in 
the service of their country with feelings of 
ardent zeal ; but, with a mistaken idea that 
the contest would be decided by a single 
effort, they had limited the time of their ser- 
vice to a short period, which was ready to 
expire. 

Congress had appointed a committee, con- 
sisting of Dr. Franklin, and two other indivi- 
duals, to organize an army for the year 1776. 
But when these gentlemen repaired to head- 
quarters, and sounded the dispositions of the 
troops as to a second enlistment, they did not 
find in them the alacrity which they expected. 
The soldiers were, as they had evinced in all 
services of danger, personally brave ; but they 
w^ere unaccustomed to the alternate monoto- 
ny and violent exertion of a military life, and 
their independent spirit could ill brook the 
necessary restraints of discipline. 

From these causes so many quitted the 
camp when the term of their service was ex- 
pired, that on the last day of the year Wash- 
ington's muster-roll contained the names of 
only 9,650 men. By the exertions of the com- 
mittee, however, these were speedily rein- 



, AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Ill 

forced by a body of militia, who increased 
their numbers to 17,000. Upon these circum- 
stances, the commander-in-chief, in one of his 
despatches to Congress, made the following 
striking remarks. 

" It is not in the pages of history, perhaps, 
to furnish a case like ours — to maintain a 
post within musket-shot of the enemy for six 
months together without ammunition, and, at 
the same time, to disband one army and re- 
cruit another, within that distance of twenty 
odd British regiments, is more, probably, than 
ever was attempted. But if we succeed as 
well in the last, as we have heretofore in the 
first, I shall think it the most fortunate event 
of my whole life." It may be permitted us to 
conjecture that in these circumstances the 
uneasiness of Washington was enhanced by 
his consciousness of the risk which he ran in 
thus communicating the secret of his difficul- 
ties to so numerous a body as the Congress. 
Had there been found one coward, one traitor, 
or even one indiscreet individual in that as- 
sembly, the British general would have been 
apprized of the vast advantages which he had 
over his antagonist ; he would have adopted 
the offensive, and the cause of American in- 
dependence would have been lost. But every 
colonial senator M^as faithful to his trust. 
Every one was silent as to the real Situation 
of the army ; and the commander-in-chief still 
confidently presented a bold front to the enemy. 



112 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

It was well known that the British troops 
in Boston were much straitened for provi- 
sions ; and the militia having joined the army 
in expectation of immediate battle, were ea- 
ger for the onset, and murmured at the delay 
of the general in giving the signal for an 
assault on the town. They were little aware 
of the distresses by w^hich he was embar- 
rassed. Notwithstanding the Congress had 
even sent to the coast of Africa to purchase 
gunpowder, his magazines still contained but 
a scanty stock of that essential article, and 
many of his troops were destitute of muskets. 
But he kept to himself the important secret 
of the deficiency of his stores, and patiently 
submitted to the criticisms which were passed 
on his procrastination, till he had made the 
requisite preparations. He then proposed to 
storm the British lines ; but Avas advised by 
his council of war, in preference to this meas- 
ure, to take possession of Dorchester heights,* 
an eminence which from the southward com- 
mands the harbor and city of Boston. 

To this advice he acceded, and having di- 
verted the attention of the British garrison by 
a bombardment, vrhich was merely a feint, on 
the night of the 4th of March he pushed for- 
ward a working party of 1,200 men, under 
the protection of a detachment of 800 troops. 
The Americans were very expert in the use 

* Now added to Boston and called South Boston 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 113 

of the spade and pickaxe, and by daybreak 
they had completed respectable lines of de- 
fence. 

The British admiral no sooner beheld these 
preparations, than he sent word to General 
Howe, that if the Americans were not dis- 
lodged from their works he could not with 
safety continue in the harbor. On the 6th, 
Howe had completed his arrangements for 
the attack of the enemy's lines, and a bloody 
battle was expected ; but the transports in 
which his troops were embarked for the pur- 
pose of approaching the heights by water 
were dispersed by a storm ; and the enemy 
so industriousl}^ took advantage of the conse- 
quent suspension of his operations to strength- 
en their position, that when the storm sub- 
sided he despaired of success in attacking it. 
Finding the town no longer tenable, he evac- 
uated it on the 17th of March, and sailed 
with his garrison, which amounted to 7,000 
men, to Halifax in Nova Scotia. 

In consequence of an implied threat on the 
part of General Howe, that if he was inter- 
rupted by any hostile attack during the em- 
barkation of his troops, he would set fire to 
the town, the British were allowed to retire 
without molestation, though their commander, 
immediately before his departure, levied con- 
siderable requisitions for the use of his army 
upon the merchants, who were possessed of 
woollen and linen goods; and though the 

10* 



114 AMERICAN REVCLUTION. 

soldiery, availing themselves of the relaxation 
of military discipline which usually accom- 
panies the precipitate movements of troops, 
indulged themselves, in defiance of orders 
issued to the contrary, in all the license of 
plunder. 

Previously to the evacuation of the place, 
Howe spiked all the cannon and mortars which 
he was obliged to leave behind him, and de- 
molished the fortifications of Castle William. 
Immediately on the withdrawing of the royal 
forces, Washington, entering Boston in tri- 
umph, was hailed as a deliverer by the ac- 
clamations of the inhabitants. He also re- 
ceived the thanks of the Congress and of the 
legislature of Massachusetts ; and a medal 
was struck in honor of his services in expel- 
ling the invaders from his native land. 

The exultation which the Americans felt 
at the expulsion of the British from Boston 
was tempered by the arrival of sinister intel- 
ligence from Canada. In sending an expedi- 
tion into that country, Congress had been in- 
fluenced by two motives : they wished at 
once to secure the junction of the inhabitants 
of that province to their union, and to protect 
their own northern frontier from invasion. 
But the Canadians were little prepared for 
the assertion of the principle of freedom ; and 
the rapacity of the unprincipled Arnold, and 
the misconduct of his troops, had alienated 
their affections from the common cause. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 115 

Congress, however, by extraordinary exer- 
tions, sent to the camp before Quebec, rein- 
forcements, which, by the 1st of May, increas- 
ed Arnold's army to the number of 3,000 men. 
But his forces were unfortunately weakened by 
the ravages of the small-pox ; and reinforce- 
ments from England having begun to arrive at 
Quebec, he determined upon a retreat. In 
this retrograde movement the American army 
had to encounter difficulties, which to ordina- 
ry minds would have seemed insurmountable. 

On their march through almost impracti- 
cable roads, they were closely followed, and 
frequently brought to action, by an enemy 
superior in number. In an ill-advised attack 
on Trois Rivieres they sustained considerable 
loss, and their forces were for a time sepa- 
rated, and almost dispersed. But notwith- 
standing these disasters. General Sullivan, 
^vho conducted the retreat, contrived to save 
his baggage, stores, and sick, and led back a 
respectable remnant of his army to Crown 
Point, where he resolved to make a stand. 
Being well aware of the necessity of guard- 
ing this quarter of their frontier against the 
incursions of the British, the Congress sent 
thither an army of 12,000 men under the 
command of General Gates, who cast up strong 
works at Ticonderoga, and endeavored to re- 
tain the command of Lake Champlain by 
means of a flotilla, which was built and 
equipped with a rapidity hitherto unheard of. 



116 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

General Carleton, however, w^as not behind- 
hand with him in activity. He speedily fitted 
out a superior armament, by means of which he 
took or destroyed almost the whole of the Amer- 
ican vessels. Having thus made himself mas- 
ter of the lake, he advanced to the vicinity 
of Ticonderoga ; but finding that port too 
strongly fortified, and too well garrisoned to 
be taken by assault, he returned to Quebec. 
Valor and military skill were not the highest 
characteristics of Sir Guy Carleton. The 
kindness which he manifested to his prison- 
ers, and especially to the sick and wounded 
of the Americans who fell into his hands, en- 
title him to the superior praise of humanity. 



SECTION XVII. 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 4tH OF JULY, 

1776. 

When the British ministry took the resolu- 
tion to coerce the discontented colonies by 
force of arms, they were little aware of the 
difficulty of their undertaking ; and, conse- 
quently, the means which they adopted for 
the execution of their designs, were by no 
means commensurate with the object which 
they had in view. But when they met the 
parliament in October, 1775, they were oblig- 
ed to confess that the spirit of resistance to 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 117 

royal authority was widely diffused through- 
out the North American provinces, that re- 
bellion had assumed a bold front, and had 
been alarmingly successful. 

To supply them with the means of sup- 
pressing it, parliament readily voted the raising 
and equipment of 28,000 seamen, and 55,000 
land forces. The bill which provided for this 
powerful armament, also authorized his ma- 
jesty to appoint commissioners, who were to 
be empowered to grant pardons to individu- 
als, to inquire into and redress grievances, 
and to receive any colonies, upon their return 
to obedience, into the king's peace. 

When the colonists were apprized of the 
bill having been passed into a law, they treat- 
ed the offer of pardon with contempt, and 
contemplated with anger, but not with dis- 
may, the formidable preparations announced 
by its provisions. Their irritation was ex- 
cited to the highest pitch when they were in- 
formed that Lord North had engaged 16,000 
German mercenaries to assist in their subju- 
gation. 

Nor did this measure escape severe ani- 
madversion in the British parliament. It was 
warmly censured by many members of the 
opposition, especially by Mr. Adair and Mr 
Dunning, who maintained that, in engaging 
the services of foreign mercenaries without 
the previous consent of parliament, ministers 
had violated the provision of the Bill of Rights, 



118 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and that by this infringement of the constitu- 
tion, they had set a precedent which might 
be made available by some future arbitrary 
monarch to the destruction of the liberties of 
the country. 

The command of the British forces was 
given to General Howe, who, in arranging 
the plan of the campaign, determined, first, 
after driving the enemy from Canada, to in- 
vade their country by the northwestern fron- 
tier. 2dly, to subdue the southern colonies ; 
and, 3dly, to strike at the centre of the Union 
by conquering the province of Ncav York, 
from which, by means of the Hudson river, 
he should be able to co-operate with the royal 
army in Canada. The latter province having 
been already rescued from the invaders by 
Sir Guy Carleton, General Howe committed 
the execution of the second part of his plan 
to General Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, who 
having effected a junction at Cape Fear, re- 
solved to make an attack upon Charleston. 

They accordingly sailed up Ashley river, 
on which that place is situated ; but they en- 
countered so determined an opposition from 
a fort hastily erected on Sullivan's Island, and 
commanded by Colonel Moultrie, that, after 
sustaining considerable loss of men, and much 
damage to their shipping, they gave up their 
enterprise and sailed to New York. The re- 
sult of this attempt was highly favorable to 
the Americans, as it consoled them for their 



AMERICAN REVOLUllOW. 119 

losses in the North, inspired them with new 
confidence, and, for the ensuing two years 
and a half, preserved the southern colonies 
from the presence of a hostile force. 

The command of the principal British fleet, 
destined to co-operate with General Howe, 
had been bestowed upon his brother, Sir 
William, who, when his equipment was 
finished, sailed directly for Halifax. On his 
arrival at that place, he found that the gene- 
ral, impatient of his delay, had proceeded on 
his voyage towards New York, whither he 
immediately followed him, and joined him at 
Staten Island. 

On this junction of the two brothers, their 
forces were found to amount to 30,000 men ; 
and never, perhaps, was an army better 
equipped, or more amply provided with artil- 
lery, stores, and every requisite for the carry- 
ing on of vigorous and active hostilities. Far 
different was the condition of the American 
commander-in-chief. His troops, enlisted for 
short periods, had acquired little discipline. 
They were scantily clothed and imperfectly 
armed. They were frequently in want of 
ammunition ; and they were ill-supplied with 
provisions. Disaffection to the cause of their 
country was also manifested by some of the 
inhabitants of New York, who, at the insti- 
gation of Governor Tryon, had entered into 
a conspiracy to aid the king's troops on their 
expected arrival. 



120 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

In this plot, even some of the army had 
been engaged ; and a soldier of the command- 
er-in-chief's own guard had, by the unani- 
mous sentence of a court-martial, been sen- 
tenced to die for enrolling himself among the 
conspirators, and enlisting others in the same 
traitorous cause. In these circumstances 
Washington could not but regard the ap- 
proaching contest with serious uneasiness ; 
but he, as usual, concealed his uneasiness 
within his own bosom, and determined to 
fight to the last in the cause of his country. 
His firmness was participated by the Con- 
gress, who, while the storm seemed to be 
gathering thick over their heads, beheld it 
with eyes undismayed, and now proceeded 
with a daring hand to strike the decisive 
stroke which forever separated thirteen flour- 
ishing colonies from their dependence on the 
British crown. 

It is possible, nay, it is probable, that from 
the beginning of the disputes with the mother 
country, there may have been some few specu- 
lators among the American politicians, who 
entertained some vague notions and some 
uncertain hopes of independence. In every 
age, and in every country, there are individ- 
uals w^hose mental view extends to a wider 
circle than that of the community at large, 
and unhappy is their destiny if they attempt 
to bring their notions into action, or even to 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 12 1 

promulgate them, before the season is ripe 
unto the harvest. 

But no such precipitancy v^^as found among 
the partisans of American liberty. Like 
Franklin, for year after year, they limited 
their wishes to an exemption from parliamen- 
tary taxation, and to a preservation of their 
chartered rights and privileges. But the vio- 
lent measures of the British ministers altered 
their sentiments, and the spectacle of their 
countrymen mustering in arms to resist min- 
isterial oppression, prompted them to bolder 
daring. Finding that the British cabinet had 
hired foreign troops to assist in their subjuga- 
tion, they foresav^ that they might be reduced 
to apply to foreign aid to help them in their 
resistance against oppression. But what 
power w^ould lend them aid while they re- 
tained the character of subjects of his Britan- 
nic majesty ? 

Sentiments such as these, having been 
industriously and successfully disseminated 
throughout the Union, the Congress on the 
4th of July, 1776, while the formidable array 
of the British fleet was hovering on their 
coasts, on the motion of Mr. Richard Henry 
Lee, representative of Virginia, passed their 
celebrated Declaration of Independence, by 
which act they forever withdrew their alle- 
giance from the king of Great Britain. This 
important document is couched in the follow- 
ing terms : — 

11 



122 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

" When, in the course of human events, it 
becomes necessar}^ for one people to dissolve 
the political bands which have connected 
them with another, and to assume among the 
powers of the earth, the separate and equal 
station to which the laws of nature and of 
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to 
the opinions of mankind requires that they 
should declare the causes which impel them 
to the separation. 

" We hold these truths to be self-evident, 
that all men are created equal ; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain un- 
alienable rights, that among these are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to 
secure these rights, governments are instituted 
among men, deriving their just powers from, 
the consent of the governed ; that whenever 
any form of government becomes destructive 
of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new 
government, laying its foundation on such 
principles, and organizing its power in such 
form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
effect their safety and happiness. 

" Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov- 
ernments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and, 
accordingly, all experience hath shown, that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while 
evils are sufferable, than to right themselves 
by abolishing the forms to which they are ac- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 123 

customed. But when a long train of abuses 
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
same object, evinces a design to reduce them 
under absolute despotism, it is their right — it 
is their duty, to throw off such government, 
and to provide new guards for their future 
security. 

" Such has been the patient sufferance of 
these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former 
system of government. The history of the 
present king of Great Britain, is a history of 
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having 
in direct object, the establishment of an abso- 
lute tjTanny over these states. To prove 
this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

" He has refused his assent to laws the most 
wholesome and necessary for the public good. 

" He has forbidden his governors to pass 
laws of immediate and pressing importance, 
unless suspended in their operation till his as- 
sent should be obtained ; and when so sus- 
pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to 
them. 

" He has refused to pass other laws for the 
accommodation of large districts of people, 
unless those people would relinquish the right 
of representation in the legislature — a right 
inestimable to them, and formidable to ty- 
rants only. 

" He has called together legislative bodies 
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant 



124 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

from the depository of their public records, 
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into 
compliance with his measures. 

" He has dissolved representative houses 
repeatedly, for opposing, vrith manly firm- 
ness, his invasions on the rights of his people. 

" He has refused, for a long time after such 
dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, 
whereby the legislative powers, incapable of 
annihilation, have returned to the people at 
large for their exercise ; the state remaining 
in the mean time exposed to all the danger 
of invasion from without, and convulsions 
wdthin. 

" He has endeavored to prevent the popu- 
lation of these states, for that purpose ob- 
structing the laws for naturalization of for- 
eigners, refusing to pass others to encourage 
their migration hither, and raising the condi- 
tions of new appropriations of lands. 

" He has obstructed the administration of 
justice, by refusing his assent to laws for es- 
tablishing judiciary powers. 

" He has made judges dependent on his 
will alone for the tenure of their offices, and 
the amount and payment of their salaries. 

" He has erected a multitude of new offices, 
and sent hither swarms of officers to harass 
our people, and eat out their substance. 

" He has kept among us, in time of peace, 
standing armies, without the consent of our 
legislatures. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 125 

" He has affected to render the military in- 
dependent of, and superior to, the civil power. 

" He has combined with others to subject 
us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, 
and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his 
assent to their acts of pretended legislation ; 

" For quartering large bodies of armed 
troops among us ; 

" For protecting them, by a mock trial, 
from punishment for any murders which they 
should commit on the inhabitants of these 
states ; 

"For cutting off our trade with all- parts 
of the world ; 

" For imposing taxes upon us without our 
consent ; 

" For depriving us, in many cases, of the 
benefits of trial by jury ; 

" For transporting us beyond the seas to be 
tried for pretended offences ; 

" For abolishing the free system of English 
laws in a neighboring province, establishing 
therein an arbitrary government, and enlarg- 
ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once 
an example and fit instrument for introdu- 
cing the same absolute rule in these colonies ; 

" For taking away our charters, abolishing 
our most valuable laws, and altering funda- 
mentally the form of our governments ; 

" For suspending our own legislatures, and 
declaring themselves invested with power to 
legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

11* 



126 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

" He has abdicated government here, by 
declaring us out of his protection, and waging 
war against us. 

" He has plundered our seas, ravaged our 
coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the 
lives of our people. 

" He is, at this time, transporting large ar- 
mies of foreign mercenaries to complete the 
works of death, desolation, and tyranny, al 
ready begun, with circumstances of cruelty 
and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
head of a civilized nation. 

" He has constrained our fellow-citizens, 
taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms 
against their country, to become the execu- 
tioners of their friends and brethren, or to 
fall themselves by their hands. 

" He has excited domestic insurrections 
among us, and has endeavored to bring on 
the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless 
Indian savages ; whose known rule of war- 
fare is an undistinguished destruction of all 
ages, sexes, and conditions. 

" In every stage of these oppressions we 
have petitioned for redress in the most hum-' 
ble terms ; our repeated petitions have been 
answered only by repeated injury. A prince, 
whose character is thus marked by every 
act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be 
the ruler of a free people. 

" Nor have we been wanting in attention 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 127 

to our British brethren. We have warned 
them from time to time of attempts made by 
their legislature to extend an unwarrantable 
I'urisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and 
settlement here. We have appealed to their 
native justice and magnanimity, and we have 
conjured them by the ties of our common 
kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which 
would inevitably interrupt our connections 
and correspondence. They too have been 
deaf to the voice of justice and consanguini- 
ty. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the ne- 
cessity which denounces our separation, and 
hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, 
— enemies in war, in peace, friends. 

" We, therefore, the representatives of the 
United States of America, in general con- 
gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 
intentions, do in the name, and by authority 
of the good people of these colonies, solemnly 
publish and declare, that these united colonies 
are, and of right ought to be. Free and Inde- 
pendent States ; that they are absolved from 
all allegiance to the British crown ; and that 
all political connection between them and the 
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, 
totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde- 
pendent states, they have full power to levy 
war, conclude peace, contract alliances, es- 
tablish commerce, and do all other acts and 



128 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOX. 

tilings which independent states may, of right, 
do. And, for the support of this declaration, 
with a firm reliance on the protection of Di- 
vine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor." 



SECTION XVIII. 

CAPTURE OF LONG ISLAND, 26tH OF AUGUST, 1776. 

General Washington was well aware that 
New York would be the first object of attack 
on the part of the British ; and despairing of 
being able to encounter them in the open 
field, he resolved to protract the approaching 
campaign by carrying on a war of posts. 
With this view, after fortifying Long Island, 
he threw up various intrenchments on New 
York Island, which is bounded on the west 
by the Hudson, and on the south and east by 
the East river, while to the north it is sepa- 
rated from the main land by a narrow chan- 
nel which unites these two streams. 

He also constructed two forts, the one on 
the Hudson, named Fort Washington, by 
which he proposed to maintain his communi 
cation with Jersey, while the other, called 
Fort Lee, connected his defence with the 
province of New York. While he was mak- 
ing these preparations, he received from 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 129 

Pennsylvania a seasonable reinforcement of 
10,000 men, raised for the express purpose of 
forming a flying camp ; but he was disap- 
pointed in his expectation of the aid of a 
large body of militia. Independently of the 
flying camp, his forces, at this moment of 
peril, amounted only to 17,225 men. 

Before commencing hostilities, the Howes, 
with a view of conciliation, or of detaching 
the wavering among the colonists from the 
cause of the Congress, issued a proclamation, 
offering a pardon to such of his majesty's re- 
bellious subjects as would lay down their 
arms, and announcing their powers, on the 
fulfilment of certain conditions, to receive 
any colony, district, or place, into the king's 
peace. 

This proclamation produced no effect be- 
yond the districts from time to time occupied 
by the royal army. General Howe also endeav- 
ored to open a correspondence with Wash- 
ington, for the purpose of laying a ground 
for the amicable adjustment of all differences 
between the colonies and the mother country ; 
but as the British commander did not recog- 
nise the official character of Washington in 
the address of his letter, it was returned un- 
opened, and thus this attempt at negotiation 
failed. 

The letter of General Howe was directed 
simply to George Washington, Esq. The let- 
ter was returned, not, as General Washington 



130 AMERICAN REVOLUTiON. 

informed Congress, upon a mere point of per- 
sonal punctilio, but because, in a "public 
point of view," it was due to his " country 
and appointment" to insist upon respect to 
the commander-in-chief of the American 
forces. Congress applauded his course, and 
directed, by resolution, that no letter nor com- 
munication from the enemy sljould be received 
by any officer whatever, unless directed to 
him properly in his official capacity. 

A second letter, brought by Adjutant-gene- 
ral Patterson, addressed to George Washing- 
ton, &c., &c., &c., was in like manner de- 
clined. To the remark that these et ceteras im- 
plied every thing, and were not liable to the 
previous objection. General Washington re- 
plied that they implied any thing, and he 
should in consequence refuse to receive all 
communications not explicitly acknowledging 
his public capacity. Gen. Patterson con- 
cluded a long conference, managed on both 
sides with great dignity and courtesy, by re- 
marking that the commissioners had "great 
powers," and would be happy to effect an 
accommodation. " Their powers," rejoined 
Washington, " are only to grant pardons. 
They who have committed no fault, want no 
pardon." 

Those who are accustomed to the rapid 
proceedings of more modern warfare, cannot 
give to General Howe the praise due to ac- 
tivity. Though he arrived at Staten Island 



AMERICAN KEVOLUTION. 131 

on the 10th of June, it was not till the 26th 
of August that he commenced activ^e opera- 
tions against the enemy by an attack on Long 
Island, on the northwestern part of which a 
respectable force of Americans, commanded 
by General Sulliv^an, occupied an intrenched 
camp. Their position was protected in front 
by a range of hills stretching across the Is- 
land, from the Narrows, a strait which sepa- 
rates it from Staten Island, to the town of 
Jamaica, situated on the southern coast. 

Over the hills in question pass three defen- 
sible roads, each of which was guarcled by 
800 men. The pass by the Narrows was at- 
tacked and carried by General Grant ; the 
second, by Flatbush, was cleared by General 
de Heister, in retreating before whom the 
Americans were encountered by General 
Clinton, who with the right wing of the 
British army, had made a detour by Jamaica. 
Thus the provincials were driven into their 
lines with the loss of upwards of 1,000 men, 
while the British loss did not amount to more 
than 450. 

During the engagement Washington had 
sent strong reinforcements into Long Island, 
and, at its close, he repaired thither in per- 
son, with the greater part of his army. 
This movement had nearly occasioned his 
ruin. He soon found himself cooped up in a 
corner, with a superior force in front prepared 
to attack his works, which were untenable. 



132 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

In these circumstances his only safety lay 
in retreat. It was a difficult operation to 
convey a whole army across a ferry in the 
presence of an enemy, whose working parties 
could be heard by his sentries. But favored 
by the darkness of the night, and by a fog 
which arose in the morning, he transported 
the whole of his force to New York, leaving 
nothing behind him but some heavy cannon. 



SECTION XIX. 

EVACUATION OP NEW YORK, IST OF SEPTEMEER, 

1776. 

Among the prisoners taken by the British 
on Long Island was General Sullivan, whom 
General Howe sent on his parole with a mes- 
sage to Congress, renewing his offers to nego- 
tiate for an amicable accommodation. The 
Congress sent a committee of three of their 
body, — Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Ed- 
ward Rutledge, to confer with him on the 
subject of his communication. These depu- 
ties were received with great politeness by 
General Howe ; but, after a full discussion 
with the British commander, they reported to 
Congress that his proposals were unsatisfac- 
tory, and his powers insufficient. Their re- 
port concluded in the following terms : — 




I'lUir Li:' 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 133 

" It did not appeaT to your committee, that 
his lordship's commission contained any other 
authority than that expressed by the act of 
parliament, — namely, that of granting par- 
dons, with such exceptions as the commission- 
ers shall think proper to make, and of declar- 
ing America or any part of it to be in the 
king's peace on submission ; for, as to the 
power of inquiring into the state of America, 
which his lordship mentioned to us, and of 
conferring and consulting with any persons 
the commissioners might think proper, and 
representing the result of such conversation 
to the ministry, who, provided the colonies 
would subject themselves, might, after all, or 
might not, at their pleasure, make any alter- 
ations in the former instructions to governors, 
or propose in parliament any amendment of 
the acts complained of; we apprehend any 
expectation from the effect of such power 
would have been too uncertain and precarious 
to be relied on by America, had she still con- 
tinued in her state of dependence." This at- 
tempt at negotiation having thus fruitlessly 
terminated, nothing was left but to decide the 
dispute by arms. 

The Congress embraced this alternative in 
circumstances which would have reduced 
men of less resolute spirits to despair. Their 
army was so dispirited by the events which 
had taken place in Long Island, that the mi- 
litia began to desert, and the constancy of 

12 



134 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

some of the regulars was shaken. They 
were apprized, too, that Washington foresaw 
the necessity of making a series of retrograde 
movements, which were calculated to cloud 
the public mind with despondency. 

The prognostics of the general were soon 
verified. On the 15th of September, General 
Howe effected a landing on New York Island, 
and compelled him to evacuate the city of New 
York, and to retire to the north end of the island. 
Here Howe* unaccountably suffered him to 
remain unmolested for nearly four weeks, at 
the end of which time he manoeuvred to 
compel him to give him battle on the island. 
Dreading the being reduced to this perilous 
necessity, the American commander withdrew 
to the White Plains, taking, however, every 
opportunity to front the enemy, and engaging 
in partial actions, which in some degree kept 
the British in check. 

At length he crossed the Hudson, and oc- 
cupied some strong ground on the Jersey shore 
of that river, in the neighborhood of Fort 
Lee. He had no sooner evacuated New 
York Island than General Howe attacked and 
took Fort Washington, in which he made 
2,700 men prisoners, at the cost, however, of 
1,200 men on his side killed and wounded. 
Fort Lee was shortly after evacuated by its 
garrison, and taken possession of by Lord 
Cornwallis. Following up these successes, 
General Howe pursued the flying Americans 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 135 

to Newark, and from Newark to Brunswick, 
and from Brunswick successively to Prince- 
ton and Trenton, till at length he drove them to 
the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. It fre- 
quently happened that as the rear of the Amer- 
icans left a village on one side, the advance 
guard of the British entered it at the other. 

Nothing could exceed the distress which 
tli(3 American army suffered during this re- 
treat through the Jerseys. They were desti- 
tute of blankets and shoes, and their clothing 
was reduced to rags. They were coldly 
looked upon by the inhabitants, who gave 
up the cause of America for lost, and hasten- 
ed to make their peace with the victors. Had 
General Howe been able to maintain disci- 
pline in his army, Jersey would have been 
severed from the Union. But, fortunately for 
interests of the Congress, his troops indulged 
in all the excesses of military violence, and 
irritated the inhabitants of the country to 
such a degree, that their new-born loyalty 
was speedily extinct, and all their thoughts 
were bent upon revenge. 



SECTION XX. 

BATTLE OF TRENTON, 28tH DECEMBER, 1776. 

On the approach of the British to the Dela- 
ware, Congress adjourned its sittings from 



l36 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Philadelphia to Baltimore, and it was ex- 
pected that General Howe would speedily 
make his triumphal entry into the Pennsyl- 
vanian capital. But a bold manoeuvre of 
Washington suddenly turned the tide of suc- 
cess. On his arrival at the Delaware, his 
troops were dwindled down to the number of 
3,000 ; but having received some reinforce- 
ments of Pennsylvania militia, he determined 
to endeavor to retrieve his fortunes by a de- 
cisive stroke. The British troops were can- 
toned in Burlington, Bordentown, and Tren- 
ton, waiting for the formation of the ice to 
cross into Pennsylvania. 

Understanding that in the confidence pro 
duced by a series of successes, they were by 
no means vigilant, he conceived the possibili- 
ty of taking them by surprise. He accord- 
ingly, on the evening of Christmas day, con- 
veyed the main body of his army over the 
Delaware, and falling upon the troops quar- 
tered in Trenton, killed and captured about 
960 of them, and re-crossed into Pennsylvania 
with his prisoners. 

On the 28th of December, he again took 
possession of Trenton, where he was soon 
encountered by a superior force of British, 
who drove in his advanced parties, and en- 
tered the town in the evening, with the in- 
tention of giving him battle the next morning. 
The two armies were separated only by a 
narrow creek, which runs through the town. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 137 

In such a position it should seem to be im- 
possible that any movement on the one side 
or on the other could pass unobserved. The 
situation of Washington w^as now exceedingly 
critical ; with a superior army in front, he 
knew defeat to be certain in a pitched battle ; 
and to retreat over the Delaware encumbered 
by floating ice, diflicult and dangerous. To 
fight was to lose all the benefits of the late 
victories upon the spirits, as well as upon the 
fortunes, of the Americans ; and a retreat, 
besides the peril, was little less disheartening. 
With his usual sagacity and boldness, he 
struck out another extraordinary scheme, 
which was accomplished with consummate 
skill, and followed by the happiest results. 

In the darkness of the night, Washington, 
leaving his fires lighted, and a few guards to 
attract the attention of the enemy, quitted his 
encampment, and, crossing a bridge over the 
creek, which had been left unguarded, direct- 
ed his march to Princeton, where, after a short 
but brisk engagement, he killed 60 of the Brit- 
ish, and took 300 prisoners. The rest of the 
royal forces were dispersed, and fled in difler- 
ent directions. Great was the surprise of 
Lord Cornwallis, who commanded the British 
army at Trenton, when the report of the ar- 
tillery at Princeton, which he at first mistook 
for thunder, and the arrival of breathless 
messengers, apprized him that the enemy 
was in his rear, 

12* 



138 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Alarmed by the clanger of his position, he 
commenced a retreat ; and, being harassed 
by the militia and the countrj'men who had 
suffered from the outrages perpetrated by his 
troops on their advance, he did not deem him- 
self in safety till he arrived at Brunswick, 
from whence, by means of the Raritan, he had 
a communication with New York. 

This splendid success inspired the Ameri- 
cans with renewed spirits. Recruits were 
readily raised for their arniy, which took up 
its winter-quarters at Morristown, about 80 
miles to the northward of Brunswick ; here 
both the officers and soldiers were inoculated 
for the small-pox. During this interval of 
comparative leisure, Washington urgently re- 
newed the representations which he had be- 
fore frequently made to the Congress, of the 
necessity of abandoning the system of enlist- 
ing men for limited terms of service. The 
dread justly entertained by that body of a 
standing army had hitherto induced them to 
listen coldly to his remonstrances on this point. 
But the experience of the last campaign 
corrected their views, and they resolved 
to use their utmost exertion to raise an army 
pledged to serve till the conclusion of the 
war. 

The free spirit of the Americans, however, 
could not brook enlistment for a time so un- 
defined, and the Congress therefore issued 
proposals for a levy of soldiers to be engaged 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 139 

for three years, at the same time offering a 
bounty of 100 acres of land to those who 
would accept their first proposals. Though 
these measures in the end proved effectual, 
their accomplishment was slow, and in the 
spring of 1777, Washington's whole force did 
not amount to more than 1,500 men; but 
with these inconsiderable numbers he so dis- 
posed his posts, that with the occasional as- 
sistance of the New Jersey militia and volun- 
teers, he for some weeks kept the British in 
check at Brunswick. 

At this period, the difficulties under which 
he had so long labored from the want of arms 
and military stores, were alleviated by the 
arrival of upwards of 20,000 muskets, and 
1,000 barrels of powder, which had been pro- 
cured in France and Holland by the agency 
of the celebrated dramatist, Carron de Beau- 
marchais. 

Late in the spring of 1777, however, the 
utmost exertions of Congress in forwarding 
the recruiting service could put no more than 
7,272 effective men at the disposal of General 
Washington. With this small force it was 
manifestly his policy to gain time, and by 
occup3dng advantageous ground, to avoid be- 
ing forced to a .general engagement. With 
a view, however, of inspiriting his country- 
men, he took the field before the enemy had 
quitted their winter-quarters, and towards the 
end of May lie made a movement from Mor- 



140 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ristown to Middlebrook, where he encamped 
in a strong position. 

General Howe no sooner heard that the 
Americans were in motion, than he advanced 
from Brunswick to Somerset courthouse, ap- 
parently with an intention of pushing for the 
Delaware ; but the country rising in arms 
on every side of him, he was deterred from 
prosecuting this design, and hastily measured 
back his steps to his former position. On 
their retreat, his troops committed great rav- 
ages, and particularly incensed the inhabit- 
ants by burning some of their places of wor- 
ship. 

After frequently tr^ang in vain to entice 
Washington from his strong position, General 
Howe at length retired to Amboy. There 
learning that his adversary had descended to 
Quibbletown, he hastened back to attack him ; 
but had the mortification on his arrival at the 
spot lately occupied by the Americans, to 
learn that his vigilant foe had withdrawn 
into his fastnesses. Despairing of being able 
to penetrate into Pennsylvania by the way of 
the Jerseys, he passed over into Staten Island, 
from which point he resolved to prosecute 
the future views of his campaign by the as- 
sistance of his fleet. 

What those views might be, it was difficult 
for Washington to ascertain. The whole 
coast of the United States was open to the 
British commander-in-chief. He might at his 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 141 

pleasure sail to the north or to the south. 
General Washington was inclined to believe, 
that his intention was to move up Hudson 
river to co-operate with General Burgoyne,; 
who was advancing with a large army on 
the Canadian frontier; and, impressed wit}:> 
this idea, he moved a part of his army td 
Peekskill, while he posted another portion (d 
Trenton, to be ready, if required, to march !• 
the relief of Philadelphia. I 

While he was in this state of uncertaint};. 
he received intelligence that Howe had em 
barked with 16,000 ^len, and had steered t- 
the southward. Still apprehending that thi^ 
might be a feint, he cast an anxious eye t(^ 
the northward, till he was further informed 
that the British General, after looking into 
the Delaware, had proceeded to the Chesa- 
peake. 

The plans of the invaders were then clearly 
developed. It was evident that they intended 
to march through the northern part of the 
state of Delaware, and take possession of 
Philadelphia. 

To meet the emergency, the Pennsylvanian 
militia were called out to rendezvous at 
Chester, and those of New Jersey were sum- 
moned at Gloucester. 

Much time was lost to the British by their 
voyage, in consequence of unfavorable winds. 
Though they set sail on the 23d of July, they 
did not arrive at Elk-ferry, the place fixed 



142 AMERICAN DEVOLUTION. 

upon for their landing, till the 25th of August. 

General Howe had no sooner disembarked his 
Toops, than he advanced through the country 
oy forced marches, to within two miles of the 

American army, which, having proceeded 

japidly from Jersey to the present scene of 

Lction, was stationed at Newport. 

or 

b ""^ 

t SECTION XXI. 

CAPTURE OF PHILADELPHIA, 26tH OF SEPTEMBER, 

a j^^^ 

Si 

On the approach of the enemy. General 
Washington resolved to dispute their passage 
over the Brandywine creek. In taking this 
step he appears to have acted contrary to his 
better judgment. By throwing himself upon 
the high ground to his right, he might have 
brought on a war of posts, much better adapt- 
ed to the capacities of his undisciplined forces, 
than a battle fought on equal terms. But he 
dreaded the impression which would be made 
upon the public feeling, should he leave the 
road to Philadelphia open, and yielded to the 
general voice, which called upon him to fight 
for the preservation of the seat of the Amer- 
ican government. The action was fought at 
Chadd's ford, on the Brandywine, on the 11th 
of September. 

The battle of the Brandywine was hence 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 143 

hazarded by Washington, more in compliance . 
with the public call for decisive action, and 
the impatience of delay, than in accordance 
with his own judgment. His army was infe- 
rior in numbers and discipline, and he might 
easily have assumed a position among the 
hills, too strong to be forced, which would 
hav^e retarded the royal troops, and forced 
them to waste the season to little purpose. 
But delay had dissatisfied both Congress and 
the public expectation, and it was determined 
to try the fortune of battle. 

On this occasion Howe showed his gene- 
ralship by the skilfulness of his combinations. 
While a part of his army, under the command of 
General Knyphausen, made a false attack at the 
ford, a strong column, headed by Lord Corn wal- 
lis, crossing the Brandywine at its fork, turned 
the left of the Americans, and Knyphausen 
forcing a passage at that moment of alarm 
and confusion, the Americans gave way, and 
retired to Chester, their retreat being covered 
by Wooster's brigade, which preserved its 
ranks unbroken. Their loss in killed and 
wounded amounted to 1,200. 

Among the latter was the Marquis de La- 
fayette, who, inspired with zeal for the cause 
of freedom, had, at the age of nineteen, quit- 
ted his country at considerable hazard, and 
entered into the American army, in which he 
at once obtained the rank of major-general. 

On this occasion, too, Count Pulaski, a noble 



144 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Pole, who had distinguished himself at home, 
led on the light horse with undaunted courage 
and gallantry. As a reward for it, Congress 
testified their sense of his merit, by promo- 
ting him to the rank of brigadier, and giving 
him the command of the cavalry. 

By the event of the battle of the Brandy- 
wine the country was in a great degree open 
to the British. Washington in vain made one 
or two attempts to impede their progress, and 
on the 26th of September, General Howe 
made his triumphant entry into Philadelphia. 
On his approach the Congress, who had re- 
turned thither from Baltimore, once more took 
flight, and withdrew first to Lancaster and 
afterwards to Yorktown. 

General Howe, on marching to the Penn- 
sylvanian capital, had left a considerable 
number of troops at Germantow^n, a few 
miles from that place. As these were unsup- 
ported by the main body of his army. Gene- 
ral Washington determined upon an attempt 
to cut them oft". His. plan was well laid, and 
the forces which he despatched on this expe- 
dition took the enemy by surprise, and at first 
drove all before them. But a check having 
been given them by a small party of the 
British who had thrown themselves into a 
stone house, they were soon opposed by the 
fugitives who had rallied in force, and obliged 
to retreat with loss. 

The American loss on this occasion was 



AMERECAN REVOLUTION. 145 

about 200 killed, 600 wounded, and several 
hundred prisoners. Among the killed was 
General Nash, of North Carolina. Of the 
British, the killed were about 100 in number 
and the wounded 400. 

General Howe immediately broke up his 
encampment at Germantown, and removed 
his whole force into the city. However, he- 
found the result very different from what he 
imagined. Provisions soon grew scarce : 
and Washington, to cut off his supplies, pro- 
claimed martial law, under the authority of 
Congress, against all citizens who should at- 
tempt to furnish the enemy with them. Thus 
situated, General Howe found, as Franklin 
sarcastically remarked, that, " instead of tak- 
ing Philadelphia, Philadelphia had taken 
him." 

When General Howe quitted New York 
for the purpose of gaining possession of Phil- 
adelphia, he was deterred from making his 
approaches by the Delaware, by the prepara- 
tions made by the Americans to obstruct the 
navigation of that river. The principal of 
these consisted of a fort erected on Mud Is- 
land, which is situated in the middle of the 
river, about seven miles below the city. On 
a height on the Jersey side of the river, called 
Red Bank, they had erected a strong battery. 
The channels on both sides of Mud Island 
were closed by strong and heavy chevaux dc 
frise, through which was left a single passage 
/ 13 



146 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

closed by a boom. As it was absolutely ne- 
cessary to make himself master of these 
works, ill order to open a communication 
with his fleet, General Howe gave orders 
that they should be forced. 

In his first attack he was unsuccessful. In 
storming the battery of Red Bank, Count 
Donop was mortally wounded, and his troops 
were repulsed with considerable loss. But 
the bulk of the chevaux de frise having, by 
diverting the current of the river, deepened 
the channel on the Pennsylvania side of Mud 
Island, a ship of war mounted with twenty- 
four pounders was warped through it into a 
position where she could enfilade the fort, 
w^hich, being no longer tenable, the garrison 
retired from it to Red Bank. By these oper- 
ations General Howe obtained full command 
of the Delaware, and by its means, every facil- 
ity for the conveyance of supplies to his army. 

Mr. Hancock having, on the 29th of Octo- 
ber of this year, resigned the presidency of 
Congress, on the 1st of November ensuing, 
Mr. Henry Laurens was appointed to succeed 
him. 



SECTION XXII. 
burgoyne's expedition. 

When the news of General Howe's success 
arrived in England, the great majority of the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 147 

nation were transported with joy. In the de- 
feat of Washington, the capture of Philadel- 
phia, and the expulsion of Congress, the 
members of which were represented as miser- 
able fugitives, seeking in trembling anxiety 
for a temporary shelter from the vengeance 
of the law, they fondly saw an earnest of the 
termination of the war by the submission of 
the rebels. But their exultation was speedily 
damped by the annunciation of the capture 
by these very rebels of a whole British army. 

A cursory inspection of the map of the 
United States will suffice to show, that for 
the purpose of their subjugation, it was. at 
this period of high importance to the British 
to form a communication with Canada by 
means of Hudson river. This would have 
intersected the insurgent provinces, and by 
cutting off their intercourse with each other, 
and by hemming in the eastern states, which 
the British ministry regarded as the soul of the 
rebellious confederacy, would have exposed 
them to be overrun and conquered in detail. 

General Burgoyne, who had served in Can- 
ada in the campaign of 1776, under General 
Carleton, arrived at Quebec in the beginning 
of the month of May, 1777, and was followed 
by a large regular force from England, de- 
signed to make a descent upon the United 
States through Lake Champlain, and effect 
a junction with Sir William at New York. 
This plan had always found favor with the 



148 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ministry, and had been earnestly pressed upon 
them by Burgoyne on his return from Ameri- 
ca. It was hence determined to provide a 
powerful army, well appointed in every re- 
spect, to make success certain. 

General Howe, therefore, was directed by 
the ministry to operate with a part of his 
army northwards from New York, while 
General Burgoyne was instructed to enter 
the state of New York by its northwestern 
frontier, and to make his way good to Albany, 
where it was intended that he should form a 
junction with the forces which Howe should 
send to co-operate with him. The expediency 
of this plan was so obvious that it did not es- 
cape the foresight of the Americans, who, in 
order to obviate it, had strongly fortified Ti- 
conderoga, and the adjacent height of Mount 
Independence. They had also taken meas- 
ures to obstruct the passage from Lake Cham- 
plain, and had moreover strengthened the 
defences of the Mohawk river. For garri- 
soning these posts, and for conducting the 
requisite operations in the field, they gave 
orders to raise an army of 13,600 men. 

The British army destined to act under 
Burgoyne consisted of 7,000 regulars, fur- 
nished with every requisite for war, espe- 
cially with a fine train of artillery. These 
were supported by a number of Canadians, 
and a considerable body of Indians. It was 
arranged, in the plan of the campaign, that 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 149 

while Burgoyne, at the head of theSe forces 
should pour into the state of New York, from 
Lake Champlain, a detachment under the 
command of Colonel St. Leger should march 
towards Lake Ontario, and penetrate in the 
direction of Albany, by the Mohawk river, 
which falls into the Hudson a little above 
that town. 

General Burgoyne having arrived at Que- 
bec, and immediately putting himself at the 
head of his army, he proceeded up Lake 
Champlain to Crown Point. Here he was 
joined by the Indians, to whom he made a 
speech, in which he inculcated upon them the 
virtue of mildness, and strictly forbade them 
to destroy any persons except in battle. An 
ancient Iroquois chieftain, in the name of his 
comrades, promised strict compliance with 
the general's injunctions. 

Having, however, fully secured the co-oper- 
ation of the Indians, he endeavored to improve 
the advantage their alliance gave him, in in- 
timidating the Americans. On the 29th of 
June, he issued a proclamation, with the de- 
sign of spreading terror among them, magni- 
fying the force of the armies and fleets pre- 
pared to crush the revolted colonies, and 
insisting upon the numbers and ferocity of 
their Indian allies. Promises of favor and 
support were held out to such as should aid 
in est iblishing the government of the king, 
and all the horrors of devastation threatened 

13* 



150 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

against those who should persist in rebellion. 
Thousands of Indians, he admonished them, 
were ready, at his bidding, to be let loose 
against " the hardened enemies of Great Bri- 
tain and America." 

This proclamation justly provoked some 
animadversion in England, and was strongly 
censured by both houses of parliament. In 
the United States it kindled a general indig- 
nation at the atrocity of its sentiments, min- 
gled with derision at its pompous denuncia- 
tions. The temper of the people was too 
stern for such intimidations, and his grandilo- 
quent threats of Indian massacres, served to 
inflame resentment, and stimulate resistance. 

From Crown Point the royal army directed 
its march to Ticonderoga. Here Genera} 
Burgoyne expected to encounter a powerful 
opposition, as he well knew that the Ameri- 
cans had flattered themselves that by the for- 
tifications which they had erected on it, they 
had rendered it almost impregnable. But the 
forces which had been destined to its defence 
had not arrived. General St. Glair had not 
men enough to man his lines. He saw his 
position nearly surrounded by the enemy, who 
were erecting a battery on a hill which com- 
manded his intrenchments. 

In these circumstances, a council of war 
unanimously reconamended to their command- 
er the evacuation of Ticonderoga, which he 
effected with such good order and secre- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 151 

cy, that he was enabled to bring off a great 
part of the public stores. He left behind him, 
however, ninety-three pieces of ordnance, 
which fell into the hands of the British. The 
retreating Americans took the road to Skeens- 
borough, which is situated at the southern 
extremity of Lake George. 

In their flight they were briskly pursued 
by General Fraser by land, while Burgoyne 
attacked and destroyed their flotilla on Lake 
George ; and so closely were they pressed by 
this combined movement, that they were com- 
pelled to set fire to their stores and boats at 
Skeensborough, and take refuge in Fort Anne, 
a few miles to the southward of that place. 
Here, however, they did not long find shelter. 
Their rear-guard was attacked and routed by 
Colonel Fraser, at Hubbardton ; and Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Hill having been sent forward 
from_ Skeensborough, by General Burgoyne, 
with the 9th regiment of foot, to make an 
assault on Fort Anne, the provincials, after a 
short but brisk engagement, withdrew to 
Fort Edward, which is situated on the Hud- 
son river. Here their scattered forces being 
collected, were found to amount to no more 
than 4,400 men, who being unable to cope 
with their victorious pursuers, soon found 
themselves under the necessity of making 
another retrograde movement in the direction 
of Albany. 

This long series of successes filled the 



152 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

minds of the British with exultation. They 
had beaten the enemy in every encomiter ; 
had forced them from their fastnesses, and 
entertained sanguine hopes of driving them 
before them till the co-operating force which 
they presumed General Howe was sending 
up the Hudson should intercept their retreat, 
and put them between two fires. Burgoyne 
issued proclamations in the style of a con- 
queror, summoning the inhabitants of the dis- 
trict in which he was operating to aid his 
pursuit of the fugitive rebels. The assistance 
which he called for was very necessary, not 
for pursuit, but defence — his difficulties were 
now commencing. 

Instead of falling back from Skeensborough, 
to Ticonderoga, and advancing from the lat- 
ter place by Lake George, (a movement 
which he declined, as having the appearance 
of a retreat,) he determined to march across 
the country from Skeensborough to Fort Ed- 
ward ; but the road wa^ so broken up — it 
was so intersected with creeks and rivulets, 
the bridges over which had been broken 
down, and so much embarrassed with trees 
cut down on each side, and thrown across it 
with entangled branches, that it was with 
immense labor he could advance a mile a 
day. When he had at length penetrated to 
Fort Edward, which he reached on the 30th 
of July, he found it abandoned by the enemy, 
who by their retreat left free his communica- 




Fn^c^ 153 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 153 

tion with Lake George, from which he ob- 
tained supplies of stores and provisions con- 
veyed by land from Fort George to Hudson 
river, and thence floated down to his camp. 



SECTION XXIII. 

FAILURE OF BURGOYNe's EXPEDITION. 

This delay gave the Americans time to 
recover from the consternation into which 
they had been thrown by the loss of Ticon- 
deroga, and the subsequent misfortunes of 
their army. Determined to make amends for 
their previous dilatoriness by instant activity, 
they flew to arms. The plundering of Jersey 
had taught them that peaceable conduct and 
submission afforded no protection against 
British rapine ; and they were persuaded, 
that whatever might be the wishes of General 
Burgoyne, he had not power to restrain his 
Indian auxiliaries from practising their ac- 
customed savage mode of warfare. Looking 
for safety, then, only to their swords, and 
judging from their knowledge of the country, 
that the further the British commander ad- 
vanced, the greater would be his difficulties, 
they hastened their reinforcements from every 
town and hamlet in the vicinity of the seat 



154 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

of war, and soon increased the army of St. 
Clair to the number of 13,000 men. 

While General Burgoyne was making his 
way to the Hudson, Lieutenant-colonel St. 
Leger had arrived at the Mohawk river, and 
was laying siege to Fort Schuyler. Receiv- 
ing intelligence that General Herkimer was 
hastening at the head of a body of troops to 
the relief of the place, he sent a detachment 
with instructions to lie in ambush on his line 
of march, and to cut him off. These instruc- 
tions were so well obeyed, that Herkimer fell 
into the snare, his troops were dispersed, and 
he himself was killed. St. Leger now enter- 
tained sanguine hopes of speedily taking the 
fort ; but the Indians who composed a con- 
siderable part of his little army, taking alarm 
at the news of the approach of General Ar- 
nold, at the head of a detachment, whose 
numbers were purposely exaggerated by an 
American emissary in their camp, insisted on 
an immediate retreat. This mutiny com- 
pelled St. Leger to raise the siege, and to re- 
tire to Canada, leaving behind him a great 
part of his artillery and stores. 

When General Burgoyne was informed of 
the arrival of St. Leger before Fort Schuyler, 
he thought it very expedient to make a for- 
ward movement towards Albany, for the pur- 
pose of co-operating with that officer, and 
also with the British troops who were, as he 
expected, advancing up the Hudson. The 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 155 

principal objection to this step was, that it 
would necessarily remove him to a perilous 
distance from his supplies, which were col- 
lected at Fort Edward. With a view, there- 
fore, of procuring a plentiful stock of provi- 
sions from a nearer point, he despatched 
Lieutenant-colonel Baum with 600 men, of 
whom 100 were Indians, with instructions to 
seize and convey to his camp a considerable 
magazine of flour and other supplies which 
the Americans had established at Benning- 
ton, in the district of Vermont. 

Baum, being erroneously informed that the 
inhabitants of that part of the country were 
favorably disposed towards the British, march- 
ed forwards without due precaution, till, on 
approaching Bennington, he found the enemy 
assembled in force in his front. In this exi- 
gency he took possession of an advantageous 
post, where he intrenched himself, and sent to 
Burgoyne for succor. Colonel Breyman was 
detached to reinforce him ; but before the ar- 
rival of that officer, the fate of his country- 
man was decided. Baum had been attacked 
by the American General Stark, had lost his 
field-pieces, and had witnessed the death or 
capture of most of his detachment. On his 
arrival at the scene of slaughter, Breyman 
was also vigorously assailed, and compelled 
to retreat with the loss of his artillery. The 
royalists lost in these two battles about 700 



156 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

men, the greater part prisoners. The Amer- 
ican loss was about 70. 

The failure of this expedition was most 
disastrous to the British commander-in-chief, 
who, being disappointed of receiving the ex- 
pected supplies from Vermont, was obliged 
to await the arrival of provisions from Fort 
George, by which he was delayed from the 
15th of August to the 13th of September. 
This interval of time was well improved by 
the Americans, who, flushed with their suc- 
cess against Baum and Breyman, pressed on 
the British with increased numbers and in- 
creased confidence. They were also cheered 
to vigorous exertion by the arrival at this 
critical moment of General Gates, who was 
commissioned by Congress to take the com- 
mand of the northern army. 

After most anxious deliberation, Gene- 
ral Burgoyne, having by extraordinary ex- 
ertions collected provisions for thirty days, 
crossed the Hudson river on the 13th of Sep- 
tember, and advanced to within two miles of 
General Gates's camp, which was situated 
about three miles to the northward of Still- 
water. Gates boldly advanced to meet him, 
and a hard-fought battle ensued, which, though 
not decisive, was very detrimental to the 
British, as it shook the fidelity of their Indian 
allies and of the Canadians, who now began 
to desert in great numbers. 

The desertion of the Indians was accele- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 157 

rated by the following tragical incident. Miss 
M'Rea, an American lady, who resided in the 
vicinity of the British encampment, being en- 
gaged to marry Captain Jones, an officer of 
Burgoyne's army, her lover, being anxious for 
her safety, as he understood that her attach- 
ment to himself and the loyalty of her father 
had rendered her an object of persecution to 
her countrymen, engaged some Indians to es- 
cort her within the British lines, promising to 
reward the person who should bring her safe 
to him, with a barrel of rum. Two of these 
emissaries having found the destined bride, 
and communicated to her their commission, 
she, without hesitation, consented to accom- 
pany them to the place of meeting appointed 
by Captain Jones. But her guides unhappily 
quarrelling on the way, as to which of them 
should present her to Mr. Jones and receive 
the promised recompense, one of them, to 
terminate the dispute, cleft her skull with his 
tomahawk, and laid her dead at his feet. 

This transaction struck the whole British 
army with horror. General Burgoyne, on 
hearing of it, indignantly demanded that the 
murderer should be given up to condign pun- 
ishment. Prudential considerations, however, 
prevented his being put to death, as he well 
deserved. Burgoyne was of opinion, that his 
pardon upon terms w^ould be more efficacious 
in preventing further barbarities than his ex- 
ecution : he, therefore, spared his life, upon 

14 



158 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

condition that his countrymen would, from 
that time forth, abstain from perpetrating any 
cruelties on the unarmed inhabitants, or on 
those whom they had vanquished in battle. 

As the Earl of Harrington at a subsequent 
period stated in his examination before the 
House of Commons, he told their interpreter 
" that he would lose every Indian rather than 
connive at their enormities." The savages 
at first seemed willing to comply with his re- 
newed injunctions ; but resentment rankled in 
their breasts at his interference with their 
habits of warfare, the respect with which 
they had once looked up to him was impaired 
by their knowledge of the difficulties of his 
situation, and they soon began to quit the 
camp, loaded with their accumulated plun- 
der. 

Thus checked in his progress, and deserted 
by his allies, Burgoyne sent urgent letters to 
Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded at New 
York, entreating him to hasten forwards the 
co-operative forces on which he relied for 
safety and success, and apprizing him that 
want of provisions would preclude him from 
remaining in his present position beyond 
the 12th of October. This renewed delay 
dispirited his own troops, and swelled the 
numbers of the hostile army, which received 
recruits from every quarter. 

On the 7th of October, Burgoyne in person, 
accompanied by Generals Phillips, Reidesel, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 159 



and Fraser, issued from his camp at the head 
of 1,500 men, for the purpose of making a 
reconnoissance and of foraging. This move- 
ment brought on a general engagement, at 
the close of which the British were driven 
within their lines, and a part of tViem was 
forced This circumstance compelled bur- 
govne to change his position, which manceuyre 
he performed in a masterly manner, and with- 
out sustaining any loss. It was, indeed, trom 
this time, the policy of the American general 
to avoid a pitched battle, and to reduce his 
enemy by harassing him and cutting ott his 
retreat, and depriving him of supplies. 

The situation of General Burgoyne was 
most distressing. By extraordinary efforts he 
had forced his way to within a few miles ot 
Albany, the point of his destination, and had 
he been seconded by correspondent exertions 
on the part of the British southern army, he 
would have effected the object of his cam- 
paio-n. Sir Henry Clinton seems to have had 
no precise or early instructions as to co-ope- 
rating with him. Certain it is, that it was 
not till the 3d of October that he moved up 
the Hudson to his assistance. Sir Henry 
easily surmounted every obstacle which pre- 
sented itself on his route. He took tort 
Montgomery by assault, and by removing a 
boom and chain which was stretched Jrona 
that fortress across the Hudson, he opened 
the navigation of that river to his flotilla, 



160 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

which, with a fair wind, might have speedily 
made its passage to Half Moon, within six- 
teen miles of Gates's encampment. 

But instead of hastening to the relief of 
their countrymen, the several divisions of 
Clinton's army employed themselves in plun- 
dering and burning the towns and villages 
situated on the banks of the river, and in the 
adjacent country. Among those who dis- 
tinguished themselves in this predatory war- 
fare, General Vaughan rendered himself pre- 
eminently conspicuous. Having been ordered 
to advance up the river, by Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, he landed at the town of ^sopus, or 
Kingston, a fine and flourishing village on the 
western bank of the Hudson, and finding it 
evacuated by the American forces, to whom its 
defence had been intrusted, though he did not 
encounter the slightest opposition on the part 
of the inhabitants, he permitted his troops to 
plunder it, and afterwards so completely re- 
duced it to ashes, that he did not leave a 
single house standing. 

This outrage excited a cry of indignation 
throughout the United States, and drew from 
General Gates a letter of severe remonstrance. 
But the British had much more reason to in- 
culpate Vaughan than the Americans. His 
delay at ^sopus sealed the ruin of the royal 
cause. Vaughan was at yEsopus on the 13th 
of October. The tide of flood would have 
borne him, in four hours, to Albany, where he 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 161 

miglit have destroyed Gates's stores, and thus 
have reduced the American general to the 
necessity of liberating General Burgoyne, 
who did not surrender till the 16th, and of 
retreating into New England. Upon such 
narrow turns of contingencies does the issue 
of the combinations of warfare frequently 
depend. 



SECTION XXIV. 

CONVENTION OF SARATOGA, 13tH OF OCTOBER, 

1777. 

In the mean time, the difficulties in which 
Burgoyne was involved were hourly accumu- 
lating. With a view of cutting off his re- 
treat, Gates posted 1,400 men opposite the 
fords of Saratoga, and 2,000 more on the 
road from that place to Fort Edward. On 
receiving intelligence of this, Burgoyne re- 
treated to Saratoga, leaving his sick and 
wounded to the humanity of the enemy. 
Finding it impossible to force his way over 
the fords of Saratoga, he attempted to open 
to his army a passage to Lake George ; but 
the artificers, whom he sent under a strong 
escort to repair the bridges on the road thither, 
were driven away by the American forces. 
The road to Fort Edward, also, w^as found by 

14* 



162 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

the scouts who had been sent to reconnoitre 
in that direction, to be strongly guarded. 
When the 13th of October arrived, Burgoyne 
had received no satisfactory tidings from 
Clinton's army. He saw himself in a man- 
ner surrounded by the enemy, whose cannon- 
shot flew in every direction through his camp. 
Though he had for some time past put his 
troops on short allowance, he found on in- 
spection that he had only three days' rations 
left in his stores. In these trying circum- 
stances, with a heavy heart he summoned a 
council of 'war, which came to a unanimous 
resolution, that in their present position they 
would be justified in accepting a capitulation 
on honorable terms. 

A negotiation was accordingly opened. 
After discussion, a convention was at length 
agreed upon, the principal conditions of which 
were, " that the British troops were to march 
out of their camp with the honors of war 
and the artillery of the intrenchments to the 
verge of the river, where the arms and the 
artillery were to be left ; the arms to be piled 
by word of command from their own officers ; 
and that a free passage was to be granted to 
the army to Great Britain, upon condition of 
not serving again in North America during 
the present contest.'' 

These terms were honorable to the mod 
eration and magnanimity of the American 
general, especially as at the time he was in 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 163 

possession of tidings of the atrocious conduct 
of the British on the Hudson. 

Though the first proposals of General Gates 
were harsh, his subsequent conduct was 
marked with the characteristics of concilia- 
tion and delicacy. When the convention was 
signed, he withdrew his troops into their lines, 
to spare the British the pain of piling their 
arms in the presence of a triumphant enemy. 
He received the vanquished general with the 
respect due to his valor and to his military 
skill ; and in an entertainment which he gave 
at his quarters to the principal British officers, 
his urbanity and kindness soothed the morti- 
fication which could not but embitter their 
spirits. 

By the convention of Saratoga, 5,790 men 
surrendered as prisoners ; and besides the 
muskets piled by these captives, thirty-five 
brass field-pieces, and a variety of stores were 
given up to the victors. The American army, 
at this time, to which Burgoyne surrendered, 
amounted to about fifteen thousand men, of 
whom ten thousand were regulars. 

The tidings of the capture of Burgoyne's 
army circulated rapidly, and was received 
with unbounded exultation. As a presage of 
future victories, it was invaluable to the mili- 
tary spirit of the people, and was hailed with 
transports of joy as a certain pledge of the 
speedy establishment of independence. It 
was also justly esteemed as giving such an 



164 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

assurance of success, as would not fail to se- 
cure foreign alliances and European acknow- 
ledgments of the United States as an inde- 
pendent power. 



SECTION XXV. 

TREATY WITH FRANCE, 6tH OF FEBRUARY, 1778. 

Immediately after the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, Gates moved down the Hudson to put 
a stop to the devastation of the country by 
Clinton's army, which, on his approach, re- 
tired to New York. He then sent forward a 
considerable reinforcement to General Wash- 
ington, who soon after its arrival advanced 
to White Marsh, within fourteen miles of 
Philadelphia, where he encamped in a strong 
position. When General Howe received in- 
telligence of this movement, he marched out 
of his quarters on the night of the 4th of De- 
cember ; but after various manoeuvres, find- 
ing that he could gain no advantage over his 
vigilant adversary, he returned to Philadel- 
phia. 

Washington then took up his winter-quar- 
ters about sixteen miles from the city, at a 
place called Valley Forge, where his men, 
ill-supplied as they were with clothing, blank- 
ets, and other comforts, cheerfully constructed 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 165 

huts to shelter themselves from the inclemen- 
cy of the season. By taking up this position 
he protected the province of Pennsylvania 
from the incursions of the enemy, and reduced 
the fruits of Hov^e's various successes to the 
occupation of a single additional city — an 
advantage by no means calculated to console 
the British for the loss of an able general 
and a gallant army. 

General Burgoyne had drunk deep of the 
bitter cup of affliction at Saratoga ; but he 
was doomed to suffer still further mortifica- 
tion. As the British regarded the Americans 
as rebels, they did not always in the course 
of hostilities observe towards them those rules 
which guide the conduct of nations engaged 
in war against a foreign enemy. The truth 
of history, indeed, cannot suppress the melan- 
choly fact, that at the beginning of the con- 
test, and, occasionally, during its progress, 
the treatment of the American prisoners, on 
the part of the British authorities, was ex- 
tremely harsh and severe ; and that capitula- 
tions made with such portions of the patriotic 
army as had by the fortune of war been re- 
duced to a surrender, had not always been 
observed with courtesy, or even with a due 
and strict regard to their essential provi- 
sions. 

The Congress, reflecting on these incidents, 
felt no small apprehension that if the army 
which had surrendered at Saratoga should be 



166 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

allowed to embark, instead of sailing for Eng- 
land, according to the terms of the capitula- 
tion, it would join the forces of General Howe. 
They therefore studied to find a pretext for 
breaking the convention. For this purpose 
they addressed a number of queries to Gene- 
ral Gates, as to the manner in which the 
British had fulfilled the conditions of their 
surrender, but he assured them that on the 
part of the British the convention had been 
exactly observed. 

The pretext, however, which they could not 
obtain from their gallant countryman, was 
supplied by the imprudence of Burgoyne. 
Among other articles of the convention, it 
had been stipulated that the captive British 
officers should, during their stay in America, 
be accommodated with quarters correspond- 
ent to their rank. This stipulation having 
been but ill observed in the crowded bar- 
racks at Cambridge, near Boston, where the 
surrendered army was quartered, Burgoyne 
addressed to Gates a letter of remonstrance 
on this subject, in which he declared that by 
the treatment which his officers had experi- 
enced, " the public faith, plighted at Saratoga, 
had been broken on the part of the United 
States." 

Gates, in the discharge of his duty, trans- 
mitted this letter to Congress, who read it 
with joy ; and affecting to find in the phrase 
above quoted, a pretext set up by the British 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 167 

general to vindicate a meditated violation of 
the convention, they resolved that " the em- 
barkation of General Burgoyne and the troops 
under his command should be suspended till 
a distinct and explicit ratification of the con- 
vention of Saratoga should be properly noti- 
fied by the court of Great Britain." 

In vain did Burgoyne remonstrate against 
this resolution — in vain did he explain his 
phraseology, and offer to give any conceiva- 
ble pledge of the sincerity of his intentions to 
fulfil his engagements. The Congress wsls 
inexorable — his troops remained as prisoners ; 
and after wasting some time in vain endeav- 
ors to procure them redress, he sailed on his 
parole for England, where he was refused 
admittance into the presence of his sovereign, 
denied the justice of a court-martial on his 
conduct, and subjected to a series of ministe- 
rial persecutions — grievous, indeed, to a sen- 
sitive mind, but, in effect, more disgraceful to 
their inflictors than to their victim. 

At the time when the American leaders 
contemplated the declaration of independ- 
ence, they entertained sanguine hopes that 
the rivalry which had so long subsisted be- 
tween France and England would induce the 
former power to assist them in throwing off 
the yoke of the mother country ; and early in 
the year 1776, the congress sent Silas Deane 
as their accredited agent to Paris, where he 
was afterwards joined by Dr. Franklin and 



168 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Arthur Lee, and instructed to solicit the 
French court to enter into a treaty of alliance 
and commerce with the United States. The 
celebrity of Franklin gained him the respect, 
and his personal qualities obtained him the 
esteem of individuals of the highest rank in 
the French capital. 

But the Comte de Vergennes, then prime 
minister, acted with caution. He gave the 
Americans secret aid, and connived at various 
measures which their agents took to further 
their cause, by the procuring of arms and 
military stores, and by annoying the British 
commerce. The encouragement which Frank- 
lin and his associates received, varied accord- 
ing to the success or disasters of the American 
forces. But the capture of Burgoyne's army 
decided the hesitating counsels of France ; 
and on the 6th of February, 1778, His Most 
Christian Majesty acknowledged and guar- 
antied the independence of the United States, 
and entered into a treaty of alliance and com- 
merce with the infant republic of North 
America. 

Of this circumstance the French ambassa- 
dor, on the 13th of March, gave official notice 
to his majesty's ministers in a rescript couched 
in respectful terms, but concluding with an in- 
timation, " that the French king, being deter- 
mined effectually to protect the lawful com- 
merce of his subjects, and to maintain the 
dignity of his flag, had, in consequence, taken 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 169 

effectual measures for these purposes, in con- 
cert with the United States of America." 

With whatever urbanity this communica- 
tion mis^ht be made by the ambassador, the 
British ministers regarded it, as it was in- 
tended to be, as a declaration of war ; and 
on th» 17th of March they notified its recep- 
tion to the House of Commons. Their notifi- 
cation was accompanied by a message from 
the king, expressing the necessity he was 
under to resent this unprovoked aggression, 
and his firm reliance on the zealous and affec- 
tionate support of his faithful people. To 
this message the Commons returned a dutiful 
answer, assuring his majesty that they would 
stand by him in asserting the dignity of the 
crown, and the honor of the nation. 



SECTION XXVI. 

REJECTION OF LORD NORTh's OVERTURES, JUNE, 

1778. 

The intelligence of the surrender of Gene- 
ral Burgoyne and his army overwhelmed Lord 
North with dismay ; and the annunciation of 
the treaty between the United States and 
France at once dissipated the feeble hope 
which he might yet have entertained of sub- 
duing the revolted colonies by force of arms. 

15 



170 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

His only remaining resource, then, to prevent 
that jewel from being forever torn from the 
British crown, was to form, by an act of par- 
liament, a kind of federal union with the 
North American provinces, which, while it 
reserved their allegiance to the British sove- 
reign, should virtually concede to them the 
entire management of their internal concerns. 

With this view, on the 17th of February, 
1778, he introduced into the House of Com- 
mons two conciliatory bills, by which he pro- 
posed to concede to the colonies every thing 
which they had demanded before their decla- 
ration of independence, viz., exemption from 
internal parliamentary taxation, the appoint- 
ment of their own governors and superior 
magistrates ; and, moreover, an exemption 
from the keeping up of any military force in 
any of the colonies wdthout the consent of 
their respective assemblies. It was provided, 
that commissioners should be appointed by 
the crown, to negotiate with Congress on the 
basis of these propositions. 

The speech in which his lordship introduced 
these bills into the House of Commons was 
marked by a curious mixture of humiliation 
of tone, and affected confidence and courage. 
The coercive acts, which under his influence 
had been passed into laws, were, said he, such 
as appeared to be necessary at the time, though 
in the event they had produced effects which 
he had never intended. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 171 

As soon as he found that they had failed 
in their object, before a sword was drawn 
he brought forward a conciliatory propo- 
sition, (meaning the act for admitting to 
the king's peace any individual colonies 
which might make the requisite concessions ;) 
but that, in consequence of the proposition 
having been made the subject of debate in 
parliament, it went damned to America, so 
that the Congress conceived, or took occasion to 
represent it, as a scheme for sowing divisions, 
and introducing taxation among them in a 
worse mode than the former. Then, making 
a fatal admission of the trifling nature of the 
object which had produced so much ill blood 
between the colonies and the mother country, 
he confessed that his idea never had been to 
draw any considerable revenue from Ameri- 
ca ; that his wish was, that the colonists 
should contribute in a very low proportion to 
the expenses of Great Britain. 

He was very well aware that American 
taxation could never produce a beneficial 
revenue, and that many taxes could not be 
laid or collected in the colonies. The stamp- 
act, however, seemed to be judiciously chosen 
as a fiscal experiment, as it interested every 
man who had any dealing or property to de- 
fend or recover, in the collection of the tax 
and the execution of the statute ; but this ex- 
periment had failed, in consequence of the 
obstinacy of the Americans in transacting all 



172 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

business without using the stamps prescribed 
by law. 

The act enabling the East India Company 
to send tea to America on their own account, 
and with the drawback of the whole duty 
in England, was a relief instead of an oppres- 
sion ; but this measure had been defeated by 
contraband traders, who had too successfully 
misrepresented it as an iuA^asion of colonial 
rights. Having thus detailed the difficulties 
with which ministers had been called to 
struggle in legislating for so perverse a gen- 
eration as the Americans had proved them- 
selves to be, his lordship then proceeded to 
open his plan, the outline of which has been 
given above. And, in descanting on the 
ample powers with which he proposed to in- 
vest the commissioners, and foreseeing that 
the Americans might refuse to treat with 
these agents of the sovereign without a pre- 
vious acknowledgment of their independence, 
he humbled himself so far as to say, that he 
would not insist on their renouncing their in- 
dependence till the treaty should receive its 
final ratification from the king and parlia- 
ment of Great Britain. And then, in a man- 
ner confessing that, instead of a sovereign as- 
sembly, the parliament was reduced to the 
condition of a supplicant to the mutinous col- 
onies, he proposed that the commissioners 
should be instructed to negotiate with them 
for some reasonable and moderate contribu* 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 173 

tion towards the common defence of the em- 
pire when reunited ;* but, to take away all 
pretence for not terminating this unhappy 
difference, the contribution was not to be in- 
sisted on as a sine qua non of the treaty ; but 
that if the Americans should refuse so rea- 
sonable and equitable a proposition, they 
were not to look for support from that part 
of the empire to whose expense they had re- 
fused to contribute. 

Weakly attempting to obviate the imputa- 
tion that these pacific measures were the 
fruit of fear, occasioned by the recent suc- 
cesses of the insurgents, he called the House 
to witness that he had declared for concilia- 
tion at the beginning of the session, when he 
thought that the victories of General Howe 
had been more decisive, and when he knew 
nothing of the misfortunes of Burgoyne. He 
acknowledged that the events of the war had 
turned out very differently from his expecta- 
tion, but maintained that for the disappoint- 
ment of the hopes of the public no blame was 
imputable to himself; that he had promised 
that a great army should be sent out, and a 
great army, an army of upwards of 60,000 
men, had been sent out ; that he had prom- 
ised that a great fleet should be employed, 
and a great fleet had been employed ; that 
he had engaged that this army and this fleet 
should be provided with every kind of supply, 
and that they had been supplied most amply 

15* 



174 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and liberally, and might be so for years to 
come ; and that if the House was deceived, 
they had deceived themselves. 

The prime minister, having thus by impli- 
cation attributed the failure of his plans to 
the commanders of the British forces em- 
ployed to conduct the war, concluded his 
speech by a boastful assertion, that the 
strength of the nation was still entire ; that 
its resources were ample, and that it was able, 
if it were necessary, to carry on the w^ar 
much longer. 

The disavowal on the part of the prime 
minister of any intention to raise a reve- 
nue in America, seems to have given no little 
umbrage to the country gentlemen, whose 
organ, Mr. Baldwin, exclaimed, that he had 
been deceived by the minister; that three 
3^ears ago he had asked him whether a reve- 
nue was meant by the measures he then pro- 
posed to enforce ; that he was answered it 
was, and that upon that ground alone he had 
hitherto voted with the ministry. 

The regular opposition were, upon the 
whole, more moderate than the landed aris- 
tocracy. Mr. Fox approved of Lord North's 
propositions, which, he reminded him, were 
in substance the same as those which were 
in vain brought forward by Mr. Burke about 
three years before. He did not, however, re- 
strain himself from making some severe an- 
imadversions on the policy of the premier, all 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 175 

whose arguments, he asserted, might be col- 
lected into one point, his excuses all reduced 
to one apology — his total ignorance. 

" He hoped," exclaimed the indignant ora- 
tor, " he hoped, and was disappointed ; he ex- 
pected a great deal, and found little to answer 
his expectations. He thought the Americans 
would have submitted to his laws, and they 
resisted them. He thought they would have 
submitted to his armies, and they were beaten 
by inferior numbers. He made conciliatory 
propositions, and he thought the)'" would suc- 
ceed, but they were rejected. He appointed 
commissioners to make peace, and he thought 
they had powers; but he found they could 
not make peace, and nobody believed they 
had any powers. He had said many such 
things as he had thought fit in his conciliatory 
propositions ; he thought it a proper method 
of quieting the Americans upon the affair of 
taxation. 

" If any person should give himself the 
trouble of reading that proposition, he would 
find not one word of it correspondent to the 
representation made of it by its framer. The 
short account of it was, that the noble lord in 
the proposition assured the colonies, that 
when Parliament had taxed them as much 
as they thought proper, they would tax them 
no more." In conclusion, however, Mr. Fox 
said " that he would vote for the present pro- 
position, because it was much more clear and 



176 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

satisfactory, for necessity had caused him to 
speak plain." 

The conciliatory bills, in their passage 
through the two Houses, excited many ani- 
mated debates, in the course of which Lord 
North was exposed to much animadversion, 
which he seems to have borne with great 
equanimity. At length, all points relative to 
them being settled by Parliament, they were 
sanctioned by the royal assent. But the ur- 
gency of danger would not allow ministers to 
wait till they were passed into a law ; and 
the same statesmen who had a little time 
before treated the petitions of the colonies 
with scorn and contempt, hastened to com- 
municate their propositions, while yet in the 
shape of bills, to the Congress, in hopes that 
the adoption on their part of a milder policy 
might be met with a similar spirit of concilia- 
tion on the other side of the Atlantic. These 
documents were despatched in such haste, 
that they arrived at New York in time to be 
presented by Sir William Howe to the Con- 
gress, before that assembly had received in- 
telligence of the signature of their treaty of 
alliance with France. 

The American legislators did not, however, 
hesitate as to the line of conduct which in 
these circumstances it became them to pur- 
sue. They peremptorily rejected the propo- 
sals of Lord North as insidious and unsatis- 
factory. During the progress of the concilia- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 177 

tory bills, and after their passing, frequent 
and animated debates took place in both 
Houses of Parliament, relative to the foreign 
and domestic policy of the country. 

In the House of Lords, the Duke of Rich- 
mond took the lead in discussing these subjects, 
and on the 7th of April, he made an impres- 
sive speech on the state of the nation, in 
which he maintained, that the salvation of 
the country required the ^withdrawing of the 
British troops from North America, and even 
not obscurely hinted that for the acquisition 
of peace, it would be politic to agree to the 
independence of the colonies. As his grace's 
sentiments on the latter point were no secret, 
and as it was to be expected that he would 
propound them on this occasion. Lord Chat- 
ham, now laboring under the weight of seventy 
years, rendered more heavy by acute bodily 
suffering, regardless of his infirmities, attend- 
ed in his place for the purpose of raising his 
voice against the duke's proposition. 

*' My lords," exclaimed the venerable ora- 
tor, " I rejoice that the grave has not closed 
upon me, and that I am still alive to lift up 
■my voice against the dismemberment of this 
ancient and most noble monarchy." He then 
proceeded, in the most energetic terms, to 
urge his auditors to the most vigorous efforts 
against their new enemy, the House of Bour- 
bon ; and concluded by calling upon them, if 
they must fall, to fall like men. 



178 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The Duke of Richmo'^.d having replied to 
this speech, Lord Chatham attempted to rise 
for the purpose of rebutting his grace's argu- 
ments, and of proposing his own plan for put- 
ting an end to the contest with America, 
which is understood to have been the estab- 
lishment with the colonies, upon the most 
liberal terms, of a kind of federal union under 
one common monarch. But the powers of 
nature within him were exhausted ; he fainted 
under the effort which he made to give utter- 
ance to his sentiments, and being conveyed 
to his favorite seat of Haynes, in Kent, he 
expired on the 11th of May. 

This firmness on the part of Congress au- 
gured ill for the success of the British com- 
missioners, Lord Carlisle, Mr. Eden, and 
Governor Johnstone, who arrived at New 
York on the 9th of June, and without loss of 
time attempted to open a negotiation with 
the Congress. Their overtures were officially 
answered by President Laurens in a letter, by 
which he apprized them that the American go- 
vernment were determined to maintain their 
independence ; but were willing to treat for 
peace with his Britannic Majesty on condi-. 
tion of his withdrawing his fleets and armies 
from their country. 

Thus foiled in their attempt at public ne- 
gotiation, the commissioners had recourse to 
private intrigue. Governor Johnstone, from 
his long residence in America, was personally 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 179 

acquainted with many of the leading mem- 
bers of Congress, to some of whom he ad- 
dressed letters; vaguely intimating the great ^ 
rewards and honors which awaited those 
who would lend their aid in putting an end 
to the present troubles ; and in one instance, 
he privately offered to an individual, for his 
services on this behalf, the sum of 10,000/. 
sterling, and any place in the colonies in his 
majesty's gift. 

These clandestine overtures of the governor 
were uniformly rejected with contempt, and 
the Congress having been apprized of them, 
declared them direct attempts at corruption ; 
and resolved that it was incompatible with 
their honor to hold any correspondence or in- 
tercourse with him. This resolution, which 
was adhered to, notwithstanding the explana- 
tions and denials of Johnstone, and the dis- 
avowal of his proceedings by his brother com- 
missioners, drew forth from these pacificators 
an angry manifesto, in which they virtually 
threatened the Union with a war of devasta- 
tion, declaring that "if the British colonies 
were to become an accession to France, the 
laws of self-pre*=^" ration would direct Great 
Britain to ^ ^r the accession of as little 
avail as possible to the enemy." 

While Congress gave notice that the bear- 
ers of the copies of this manifesto were not 
entitled" to the protection of a flag, they 
showed how little they dreaded the impres- 



180 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

sion which it might make, by giving it an ex- 
tensive circulation in their newspapers. 



SECTION XXVII. 

ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET. 

General Howe spent the spring of the year 
1778 nearly in a state of inaction, confining 
his operations to the sending out of foraging 
and predatory parties, which did some mis- 
chief to the country, but little service to the 
royal cause. From this lethargy he was 
roused by the receipt of orders from the Brit- 
ish ministry, to evacuate Philadelphia with- 
out delay. These orders were sent under the 
apprehension, that if a French fleet should 
block up his squadron in the Delaware, while 
Washington enclosed him on the land side, 
he would share the fate of Burgoyne. On 
the 18th of June, therefore, he quitted the 
Pennsylvanian capital, and crossed into New 
Jersey, whither he was speedily followed by 
Washington, who, keeping a strict watch on 
his movements, had taken measures to harass 
him on his march, which was encumbered 
with baggage. 

The American commander, on his arrival 
at Princeton, hearing that General Clinton, 
with a large division of the British forces, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 181 

had quitted the direct road to Staten Island, 
the place of rendezvous appointed for Gene- 
ral Howe's army, and was marching for 
Sandy Hook, sent a detachment in pursuit of 
him, and followed with his whole army to 
support it ; and as Clinton made preparations 
to meet the meditated attack, he sent forward 
reinforcements to keep the British in check. 

These reinforcements were commanded by 
General Lee, whom Washington, on his ad- 
vancing in person, met in full retreat. After 
a short and angry parley, Lee again advan- 
ced, and was driven back ; but Clinton's forces 
next encountering the main body of the 
American army, were repulsed in their turn, 
and taking advantage of the night, the ap- 
proach of which, in all probability^ saved 
them from utter discomfiture, they withdrew 
to Sandy Hook, leaving behind them such of 
their wounded as could not with safety be re- 
moved. 

For his conduct on this occasion, Lee was 
brought to a court-martial, and sentenced to 
De suspended from any command in the ar- 
mies of the United States for the term of one 
year. After this engagement Washington 
marched to White Plains, which are situated 
a few miles to the northeastward of New 
York Island. Here he continued unmolested 
by the neighboring enemy, from the begin- 
ning of July till the latter end of autumn, 
when he retired to take up his winter-quar- 

16 



182 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

ters in huts which he had caused to be coH' 
structed at Middlebrook, rii Jersey. 

According to the prognostic of the British 
ministry, the Count d'Estaing, with a fleet of 
twelve ships of the line and three frigates, 
arrived off the mouth of the Delaware in the 
month of July ; but found, to his mortifica- 
tion, that eleven days before that period Lord 
Howe had withdrawn from that river to the 
harbor of New York. D'Estaing immed'iately 
sailed for Sandy Hook ; but after continuing 
at anchor there eleven days, during which 
time he captured about twenty English iPxCr- 
chantmen, finding that he could not work his 
line-of-battle ships over the bar, by the advice 
of General Washington he sailed for New- 
port, with a view of co-operating with the 
Americans in driving the British from Rhode 
Island, of which province they had been in 
possession for upwards of a year and a half. 

This project, however, completely failed. 
Lord Howe appearing with his fleet off* New- 
port, the French admiral came out of the 
harbor to give him battle ; but, before the 
hostile armaments could encounter, a violent 
storm arose, which damaged both fleets so 
much, that the British were compelled to re- 
turn to New York, while D'Estaing withdrew 
to reflt in Boston harbor. His retirement 
subjected the American army, which had en- 
tered Rhode Island, under General Sullivan, 
to great peril ; but by the skill of its com- 



AMEEICAN REVOLUTION. 183 

mander, it was withdrawn from the province 
with little loss. Towards the latter end of 
this year the British arms were signally suc- 
cessful in Georgia, the capital of which province 
was taken by Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, 
who conducted himself with such prudence, 
and manifested so conciliatory a spirit, that 
lie made no small advances in reconciling the 
people of Georgia to their ancient govern- 
ment. 

The arrival of the French fleet had filled 
the Americans with sanguine expectations 
that they should now be able to put an end 
to the war by some decisive stroke ; and in 
proportion to the elevation of their hopes 
was the bitterness of their mortification, that 
the only result of the co-operation of their 
ally was the recovery of Philadelphia. On the 
other hand, the British miinistry were grievous- 
ly disappointed on learning that the issue of this 
campaign, as far as regarded their main army, 
was the exchange by General Howe of his 
narrow quarters in the Pennsylvanian capital 
for the not much more extended ones of New 
York Island. Hitherto they seem to have 
carried on the war under the idea that the 
majority of the inhabitants of the colonies 
were favorably disposed towards the royal 
government, and were only restrained from 
manifesting their loyalty by a faction whom 
it would be easy with their assistance to sub- 
due, but from this period they appear to have 



184 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

conducted their hostilities in a spirit of des- 
peration and revenge. 

Thus terminated the second campaign of 
Great Britain against her revolted colonies. 
Two powerful armies, commanded by expe- 
rienced generals, and abundantly provided 
with every thing, had succeeded in nothing 
but capturing the cities of Philadelphia and 
New York, and ravaging the property of pri- 
vate individuals throughout the country. One 
army had been lost totally, and the other, 
though master of the capital of the country, 
was in effect straitened within very nar- 
row limits, and exercised no power over the 
people. The country was not only not sub- 
dued, but unterrified, and more sanguine of 
their ability to maintain their independence, 
and warmed with sterner and more unani- 
mous determinations to yield nothing to the 
invader. Besides their own higher hopes and 
confidence in themselves, supported by the 
issue of two years' battles, they were now 
strengthened with foreign aid. 



SECTION XXVIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1779. 

With a view of alarming the insurgent 
colonies by subjecting them to the unmitiga- 
ted horrors of war. Sir Henry Clinton, on the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 185 

10th of May, 1779, sent an expedition into 
Virginia, under the command of Sir George 
Collier and General Matthews, who, landing 
at Portsmouth, proceeded to Suffolk, which 
tow^n they reduced to ashes, and after burning 
and capturing upwards of 130 vessels of dif- 
ferent sizes, and devastating the country in 
their line of march, sailed back loaded with 
booty to New York. 

About five weeks after their return. Gover- 
nor Tryon, having received orders to attack 
the coast of Connecticut, landed at East 
Haven, which he devoted to the flames, in 
violation of his promise of protection to all 
the inhabitants who should remain in their 
homes. Thence he proceeded to Fairfield 
and Nor walk, which were given up to plun- 
der, and then destroyed. He effected this 
mischief with little loss in the space of ten 
days, at the end of which time he returned to 
the British head-quarters to make a report of 
his proceedings to the commander-in-chief. 

Besides the vessels destroyed, there were 
burned at Norwalk two places of public 
worship, eighty dwelling-houses, sixty-seven 
barns, twenty-two stores, seventeen shops, 
and four mills ; and at Fairfield, two houses 
of public worship, eighty-two dwelling-houses, 
fifty-five barns, and thirty stores. So far was 
Governor Tryon from feeling compunction at 
these barbarities, that he boasted of his clem- 
ency, and maintained tha,t the existence of a 

16* 



186 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

single house on the coast was a monument 
of the king's mercy. 

While this mode of warfare was carrying 
on, Washington could spare very few men for 
the defence of the invaded districts. His at- 
tention was engrossed by the main army of 
the British, to keep which in check he posted 
his forces at West Point, and on the opposite 
bank of the Hudson, pushing his patrols to 
the vicinity of his adversary's lines. As the 
British occupied with a strong garrison Stony 
Point, some miles to the south of his position, 
he, on the 15th of July, despatched General 
Wayne with a competent force to dislodge 
them from that important post. 

This attempt was crowned with success. 
Wayne took the British w^orks by storm, and 
brought off 543 prisoners, fifteen pieces of 
cannon, and a considerable quantity of mili- 
tary stores. Washington did not, however, 
think it prudent for the present to attempt to 
establish himself at Stony Point, and it was 
speedily re-occupied by the British. 

Another instance of the enterprising bold- 
ness of the Americans, soon after occurred in 
the surprise of the British garrison at Powles- 
Hook, opposite to New York, which was at- 
tacked on the 19th of July, by Major Lee 
who stormed the works and took 160 prison- 
ers, whom he brought safely to the American 
lines. The joy which the Americans felt at 
the success of these daring enterprises was, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 187 

however, damped by the failure of an expe- 
dition undertaken by the state of Massachu- 
setts to dispossess the British of a fort which 
they had erected at Penobscot in the district 
of Maine. They here lost the whole of their 
flotilla, which was destroyed or captured by 
Sir George Collier, while their land forces 
were compelled to seek for safety by retreat- 
ing through the woods. 

Spain having now declared war against 
Great Britain, it was hoped by sanguine poli- 
ticians, favorable to the cause of the new 
republic, that this additional pressure of for- 
eign foes would compel the British ministry 
to withdraw their forces from North America. 
But the energies of the mother country were 
roused in proportion to the increase of her 
peril. Her fleets maintained their wonted 
sovereignty over the ocean, and her monarch 
was determined to strain eveiy nerve to re- 
duce his revolted colonies to obedience ; and 
at this period the ease with which the reduc- 
tion of Georgia had been efl?ected, and the 
advantages which it might afford in making 
an attack upon the rest of the southern states, 
induced his ministers to renew their efforts in 
that quarter. 

The back settlements, as well as those of 
the Carolinas, abounded with enterprising 
men of desperate fortunes, as also with tories, 
who had been compelled, by the persecution 
which they sustained ^rom the more ardent 



188 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

republicans, to withdraw into these wilds 
from the more settled part of the country. 
These adventurers and loyalists having joined 
the royal forces under the command of Major- 
general Prescot, which had also received re- 
inforcements from Florida, that officer found 
himself in a condition to commence active 
operations. His preparations filled the neigh- 
boring states with alarm. 

The American regular troops had, with few 
exceptions, been sent from the Carolinas to 
reinforce the army of General Washington ; 
and the only reliance of the republicans in 
this portion of the Union rested on the militia, 
the command of which was delegated by 
Congress to General Lincoln. On inspecting 
his forces, Lincoln found them ill equipped 
and very deficient in discipline. In these 
circumstances, the activity of the enemy did 
not allow him any time to improve their dis- 
cipline. 

Soon after his arrival at head-quarters, a 
division of the royal army advanced, under 
the command of Major Gardiner, to take pos- 
session of Port Royal, in South Carolina, but 
was driven back with loss by General Moul- 
trie. This repulse for a while suspended the 
enterprise of the British, who took post at 
Augusta and Ebenezer, situated on the Sa- 
vannah river, which forms the boundary be- 
tween Georgia and South Carolina. Here 
they waited in expectation of being joined 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 189 

by a body of tories, who had been collected 
in the upper parts of the latter province. 

But these obnoxious allies, giving way to 
long-smothered resentment, were guilty of 
such atrocities on their march, that the coun- 
try rose upon them, and they fell an easy 
prey to a detachment commanded by Colonel 
Pickens, sent to intercept them at Kettle 
Creek. Five of the prisoners taken on this 
occasion, were tried and executed for bearing 
arms against the government of the United 
States. This proceeding led to acts of retali- 
ation on the part of the tories and the king's 
troops, which for a long time gave in the 
southern states additional horror to the mise- 
ries of war. 

Imboldened by his success, Lincoln sent an 
expedition into Georgia, with a view of re- 
pressing the incursions of the enemy, but his 
forces v^ere surprised by General Prevost, 
from whom they sustained so signal a defeat, 
that, of 1,500 men, of which the expedition 
consisted, only 450 returned to his camp. In 
this emergency, the legislative body of South 
Carolina invested their governor, John Rut- 
ledge, and his council, with an almost abso- 
lute authority, by virtue of which, a consider- 
able force of militia was embodied and sta- 
tioned in the centre of the state, to act as 
necessity might require. 

Putting himself at the head of these new 
levies, Lincoln again determined to carry the 



190 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

war into the enemy's quarters ; and, crossing 
the Savannah, near Augusta, marched into 
Georgia, and proceeded towards the capital 
of that province. Prevost instantly took ad- 
vantage of this movement to invade South 
Carolina, at the head of 2,400 men ; and, 
driving Moultrie before him, pushed forward 
towards Charleston. At this time, his supe- 
riority appeared to be so decisive, that 
Moultrie's troops began to desert in great 
numbers, and many of the inhabitants, with 
real or affected, zeal, embraced the royal 
cause. 

On his appearance before Charleston, the 
garrison of that place, which consisted of 
3,300 men, sent commissioners to propose a 
neutrality on their part during the remainder 
of the war. This proposal he rejected, and 
made preparations to attack the town, which 
was respectably fortified. But, while he was 
wasting time in negotiations, Lincoln was 
hastening from Georgia to the relief of the 
place ; and on the near approach of the 
American army, fearing to be exposed to two 
fires, he withdrew his forces across Ashley 
river, and encamped on some small islands 
bordering on the sea-coast. 

Here he was attacked by Lincoln, who 
was, however, repulsed with loss, in conse- 
quence of the failure of a part of his combi- 
nations. Notwithstanding this success, the 
British general did not think it advisable to 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 191 

maintain his present position, but retreated 
to Port Royal, and thence to Savannah. 

The Americans retired to Sheldon, in the 
vicinity of Beaufort, which is situated at 
about an equal distance from Charleston and 
Savannah. Here they remained in a state 
of tranquillity till the beginning of September, 
when they were roused from their inaction 
by the appearance off the coast of the fleet 
of D'Estaing, who had proceeded towards 
the close of the preceding yea,Y from Boston 
to the West Indies, whence, after capturing 
St. Vincent's and Granada, he had returned 
to the assistance of the allies of his sovereign. 

At the sight of this armament, which con- 
sisted of 20 sail of the line, and 13 frigates, 
the republicans exulted in the sanguine hope 
of capturing their enemies, or of expelling 
them from their country. The militia mus- 
tered with alacrity in considerable force, and 
marched under the command of General Lin- 
coln to the vicinity of Savannah. Before 
their arrival, D'Estaing had summoned the 
town, and had granted to General Prevost a 
suspension of hostilities for 24 hours, for the 
purpose of settling the terms of a capitula- 
tion. But during that interval, the British 
commander received a reinforcement of sev- 
eral hundred men, who had forced their way 
from Beaufort ; encouraged by which seasona- 
ble aid, he determined to hold out to the last 
extremity. 



192 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 

The allied forces, therefore, commenced the 
siege of the place in form ; but D'Estaing, 
finding that much time would be consumed 
in regular approaches, and dreading the hur- 
ricanes which prevail on the southern coast 
of America at that season, resolved on an as- 
sault. In conjunction with Lincoln, he led 
his troops to the attack with great gallantry ; 
but, after having received two slight wounds, 
he was driven back with the loss of 637 of 
his countrymen, and 200 of the Americans, 
killed and wounded. 

At the close of the engagement, D'Estaing 
retired to his ships, and departed from the 
coast, while Lincoln crossed the Savannah 
river, and returned with his forces, daily di- 
minishing by desertion, to South Carolina. 
In proportion to the joy of the inhabitants of 
the southern states at the arrival of the 
French fleet, was their mortification at the 
failure of their joint endeavors to rid their 
provinces of an active enemy. The brave 
were dispirited by defeat, and the sanguine 
began to despair of the fortunes of their 
country. Those, however, who thought more 
deeply, took comfort from the consideration 
that the enemy had efi'ected little in the 
course of the campaign, except the overrun- 
ning and plundering of an extensive tract of 
territory, and that they had been compelled 
to terminate their excursions by again con- 
centrating themselves in Savannah. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 193 



SECTION XXIX. 

BIEGE AND CAPITULATION OF CHARLESTON, 12tH OF 
MAY, 1780. 

The events which had occurred in South 
Carolina, having persuaded Sir Henry Clin- 
ton that the cause of independence was less 
firmly supported there than in the northern 
states, he determined to make that province 
the principal theatre of the war during the 
ensuing campaign. Leaving, therefore, the 
command of the royal army in New York to 
General Knyphausen, on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1779, he sailed from that city with a con- 
siderable force, and, after a stormy passage, 
on the 11th of the ensuing month, he arrived 
at Tybee, in Georgia, at the mouth of Savan- 
nah river. Hence he proceeded to Ashley riv- 
er, and encamped opposite to Charleston. 

On his arrival, the assembly of the state of 
South Carolina broke up its sitting, after hav- 
ing once more delegated a dictatorial author- 
ity to Governor Rutledge, who immediately 
issued orders for the assembling of the mili- 
tia. These commands were ill obeyed. The 
disasters of the last campaign had almost ex- 
tinguished the flame of patriotism ; and each 
man seemed to look to his neighbors for those 
exertions which might have justly been ex- 
pected from himself. 

17 



194 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

He next issued his proclamation, requiring 
every enrolled inhabitant of the town to re- 
pair to the garrison to do military duty, un- 
der a penalty of having his property confis- 
cated. This had no better effect than solici- 
tation. With all the exertions of Lincoln and 
Rutledge, the w^hole strength of the tov^n, 
when Clinton crossed the Ashley, was less 
than three thousand, of whom, a thousand 
were North Carolina militia, and the rest con- 
tinental regulars. Lincoln was indefatigable 
in fortifying the works. The lines were ex- 
tended, and every possible preparation was 
made for a vigorous and determined, though 
a hopeless, resistance. 

On reconnoitring the works of* Charleston, 
Sir Henry Clinton did not think it expedient 
to attack them till he had received reinforce- 
ments from New York and Savannah, on the 
arrival of which he opened the siege in form. 
Charleston is situated on a tongue of land, 
bounded on the west by Ashley, and on the 
east by Cooper's rivers. The approach to 
Ashley river was defended by Fort Moultrie, 
erected on Sullivan's island ; and the passage 
up Cooper's river was impeded by a number 
of vessels, connected by cables and chains, 
and sunk in the channel opposite the town. 
On the land side, the place was defended by 
a citadel and strong lines, extending from one 
of the above-mentioned rivers to the other. 

Before these lines, Clinton broke ground on 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 195 

the 29tli of March, and on the 10th of April, 
he had completed his first parallel. On the 
preceding day, Admiral Arbuthnot, who com- 
manded the British fleet, had passed Fort 
Moultrie with little loss, and had anchored 
near the town. About the 20th of April, the 
British commander received a second rein- 
forcement of 3,000 men ; and the place was 
soon completely invested by land and sea — 
his third parallel being advanced to the very 
edge of the American works. 

Gen. Lincoln, who commanded in Charles- 
ton, would not have shut himself up in the 
town, had he not confidently expected relief 
from the militia, who had been called out by 
Governor Rutledge, and by whose assistance 
he imagined that he could, if reduced to ex- 
tremity, have effected a retreat, by crossing 
Cooper's river. But the few, who, in this 
hour of difficulty, advanced to his aid, were 
cut off or kept in check ; and the river was 
possessed by the enemy. 

In these distressful circumstances, after sus- 
taining a bombardment which set the town 
on fire in different places, on the 12th of May, 
he surrendered on a capitulation, the princi- 
pal terms of which were, that " the militia 
were to be permitted to return to their re- 
spective homes, as prisoners on parole, and 
while they adhered to their parole, were not 
to be molested in person or property." The 
same conditions were also imposed on all the 



il96 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

inhabitants of the town, civil as well as mil- 
itary. 

The American loss during the siege was 
102 killed and 157 wounded ; that of the loy- 
alists, 70 killed and 189 wounded. The num- 
ber of prisoners, including adult citizens and 
militia, was about 5,000, but the regular force 
did not exceed 2,500. The proportion of offi- 
cers was unusually large — men who came to 
the defence of the city without being able to 
bring the troops with them. There were in- 
cluded in the capitulation, one major-general, 
six brigadier-generals, twenty-three colonels 
and lieutenant-colonels, and one hundred and 
sixty-eight captains and lieutenants, besides 
ensigns. No less than four hundred pieces 
of artillery, of which three hundred and elev- 
en were in the city, fell into the hands of the 
British. 

Sir Henry Clinton now addressed himself to 
the important work of re-establishing the royal 
authority in the province ; as a preliminary step 
to which, on the 1st of June, he issued a pro- 
clamation, offering to the inhabitants at large, 
on condition of their submission, pardon for 
their past offences, a reinstatement in their 
rights, and, what was of the most weighty 
importance, exemption from taxation, except 
from their own legislature. 

This proclamation was followed up by th^ 
posting of garrisons in different parts of the 
country, to protect the loyal and to aWe the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 197 

disaffected, and by the march of 2,000 men 
towards North Carolina, on whose advance 
the American forces, who had tardily march- 
ed from that province to the relief of Charles- 
ton, retreated with loss. 

Col. Tarlton was detached by Cornwallis, 
with a strong corps of cavalry and mounted 
infantry in pursuit. By pushing on with un- 
exampled celerity, Tarlton overtook the Amer- 
icans at Waxsaw, and after a short encounter, 
routed the party, and captured the artillery, 
baggage, colors, indeed every thing. The 
carnage was terrible. The Americans, infe- 
rior in number, made but feeble resistance 
and cried for quarter. This was refused, and 
the infuriated enemy continued to cut down 
and massacre without mercy, until tired with 
slaughter. One hundred and eight were kill- 
ed, and one hundred and fifty wounded, and 
fifty-three prisoners ; the loss of the victors 
was only seven killed and twelve wounded. 
*' Tarlton's quarter" became afterwards a by- 
word, to express deliberate cruelty. 

Thus crowned with success, Clinton, early 
in June, embarked, with the principal part of 
his forces, for New York, having delegated 
the completion of the subjugation of South 
Carolina to Lord Cornwallis, to whom he ap- 
portioned, for that purpose, an army of 4,000 
men. 



198 AMERICAN EEVOLI^TION. 



SECTION XXX. 

DEFEAT OF GATEs's ARMY, BY LORD CORNWALLIS, 
15th OF AUGUST, 1780. 

When Lord Cornwallis took the command 
in South Carolina, the insurgents had no ar- 
my in the field within 400 miles of that prov- 
ince, and the great body of the inhabitants 
had submitted either as prisoners or as sub- 
jects ; and had they been suffered to remain 
in this state of quiet neutrality, they would 
have been happy to abide in peace the issue 
of the contest in the northern states. But 
his lordship's instructions did not permit him 
to be contented with this passive obedience, 
and he proceeded to take measures to compel 
the South Carolinians to take up arms against 
their countrymen. 

With this view, he issued a proclamation, 
absolving from their parole all the inhabit- 
ants who had bound themselves by that ob- 
ligation, and restoring them "to all the rights 
and duties belonging to citizens." What was 
meant by the ominous word " duties" was ex- 
plained by another part of the proclamation, 
whereby it was declared, " that it was proper 
for all persons to take an active part in set- 
tling and securing his majesty's government," 
and that " whoever should neglect so to do 
should be treated as rebels." 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 199 

The Carolinians were indignant at this vio- 
lation of the terms of their submission. Ma- 
ny of them resumed their arms ; and though 
more, under the impression of fear, enrolled 
themselves as subjects, they brought to the 
royal cause a hollow allegiance, which could 
not be trusted in the day of trial. A consid- 
erable number quitted the province, and has- 
tened to join the army which Congress was 
raising for the purpose of wresting it out of 
the hands of the enemy. 

In organizing this force. Congress had to 
struggle with the greatest difficulties. Their 
treasury was exhausted, and they were at 
this time occupied in making an equitable 
adjustment as to their paper money, on the 
strength of which they had undertaken the 
war, and which was now depreciated to the 
amount of forty for one — that is, one silver 
dollar was worth forty American paper dol- 
lars. While their currency was in this state 
they were perpetually embarrassed in their 
purchases of arms, clothing, and stores ; and 
when they had raised the men for the south- 
ern army, some time elapsed before they could 
procure the necessary funds to put them in 
motion. 

These difficulties being at length overcome, 
the Maryland and Delaware troops were sent 
forward, and began their march in high spir- 
its on learning that the expedition of which 
they formed a part, was to be commanded by 



200 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

General Gates. The hero of Saratoga, on 
joining the army in North Carolina, was ad- 
vised to proceed to the southward by a cir- 
cuitous route, where he would find plenty of 
provisions ; but, conceiving it to be his duty 
to hasten with all speed to the scene of ac- 
tion, he preferred the straightforward road to 
Camden, which led through a desert pine 
barren. 

In traversing this dreary tract of country, 
his forces were worn out with fatigue and 
extenuated with hunger. The few cattle 
which his commissariat had provided having 
been consumed, his only resource for meat 
was the lean beasts which were accidentally 
picked up in the woods. Meal and grain 
were also very scarce ; and as substitutes for 
bread, the soldiers were obliged to have re- 
course to the green corn and to the fruits 
wdiich they met with on their line of march. 
The consequence of this unwonted diet was, 
that the army was thinned by dysentery and 
other diseases usually caused by the heat of 
the w^eather and by unwholesome food. 

The soldiers at first bore these hardships 
with impatience, and symptoms of dissatis- 
faction and even of mutiny began to appear 
among them. But by the conciliatory exer- 
tions of the officers, who shared in all the 
privations of the common men, the spirit of 
murmuring was repressed, and the troops 
pursued their weary way with patience and 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 201 

even with cheerfulness. On their arrival at 
a place called Deep creek, their distresses 
were alleviated by a supply of good beef, ac- 
companied by the distribution of half a pound 
of Indian corn meal to each man. 

Invigorated by this welcome refreshment, 
they proceeded to the cross-roads, where they 
were joined by a respectable body of militia 
under the command of General Caswell. 
Though Gates was aware that another body 
of militia were hastening to his assistance from 
the state of Virginia, he was prevented from 
waiting for their arrival by want of provi- 
sions, and, after staying for one day only at 
the cross-roads, findiug that the enemy in- 
tended to dispute his passage by Lynch's 
creek, he marched to the right towards Cler 
mont, where the British had established a de 
fensible post. 

On his approach to the latter place, how- 
ever, Lord Rawdon, who commanded the ad- 
vance of the British, concentrated all his 
forces at Camden, while Gates mustered the 
whole of his army at Clermont, which is dis- 
tant from Camden about thirteen miles. 
These events occurred on the 13th of August, 
and on the next day the American troops 
were reinforced by a body of 700 of the Vir- 
ginia militia. At the same time Gates re- 
ceived an express from Colonel Sumpter, who 
reported to him that he had been joined by a 
number of the South Carolina militia, at his 



202 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

encampment on the west side of the Wateree, 
and that an escort of clothing, ammunition, 
and other stores, was on its way from Charles- 
ton to Camden, and must, of necessity, on its 
way to its destination, cross the Wateree at a 
ferry about a mile from that place. 

On receiving this intelligence. Gates sent 
forward a detachment of the Maryland line, 
consisting of 100 regular infantry and a com- 
pany of artillery, with two brass field-pieces, 
and 300 North Carolina militia, all under the 
command of Lieutenant-colonel Woodford, 
who was instructed to join General Sampter, 
and assist him in intercepting the convoy. At 
the same time General Gates made prepara- 
tions for advancing still nearer Camden, in 
the expectation that if Lord Rawdon did not 
abandon that post as he had done that of 
Clermont, his supplies would be cut off by 
the bodies of militia which were expected to 
pour forth from the upper counties, and he 
would thus be compelled to a surrender. 

On reaching the frontier of South Carolina, 
Gates had issued a proclamation, inviting the 
inhabitants to join his standard, and offering 
an amnesty to such of them as, under the 
pressure of circumstances, had promised alle- 
giance to the British government. Though 
this proclamation had not been without effect, 
it had not called forth the numbers upon 
which the American general had been led to 
calculate ; and, after the departure of Lieu- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 203 

tenant-colonel Woodford's detachment, the ab- 
stract of the field-returns submitted to him 
by his deputy adjutant-general indicated no 
more than between 4,000 or 5,000 men as 
constituting his disposable force. 

Gates, disappointed as he was by the scan- 
tiness of these returns, determined to perse- 
vere in his plan of offensive operations, and 
marched about ten at night on the 15th of 
August to within half a mile of Sander's 
creek, about half way between his encamp- 
ment and Camden. 

Lord Cornwallis, who the day before had 
repaired to his head-quarters at Camden, and 
had taken command of the British army, was 
also resolved, though his forces amounted 
only to 2,000 men, of whom 1,700 were in- 
fantry and 300 cavalry, to attack the enemy 
in their camp, and advancing for that pur- 
pose, at half past two in the morning, en- 
countered their advanced parties near San- 
der's creek. Here some firing took place 
with various success ; but on the whole the 
British had the advantage in this night ren- 
contre. 

Early on the ensuing morning both armies 
prepared for battle. On the side of the 
Americans, the second Maryland brigade, un- 
der the command of General Gist, occupied 
the right, which was flanked by a morass ; 
the Virginia militia and the North Carolina 
infantry, also covered by some boggy ground, 



204 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

were posted on the left, while General Cas- 
well, with the North Carolina division and 
the artillery, appeared in the centre. A corpa 
de reserve^ under the orders of General Small- 
wood, was posted about three hundred yards 
in the rear of the American line. 

In arranging the British forces, Lord Corn- 
wallis delegated the command of the right to 
Lieutenant-colonel Webster, who had at his 
disposal the 23d and the 33d regiments of 
foot. The left was guarded by some Irish 
volunteers, the infantry of the legion, and 
part of Lieutenant- colonel Hamilton's North 
Carolina regiment, under the command of 
Lord Rawdon. The cavalry of the legion 
was stationed in the rear, where also the 71st 
regiment was stationed as a reserve. 

The respective armies being thus disposed, 
the action began by the advance of 200 of 
the British in front of the American artillery, 
which received them with a steady fire. 
Gates then commanded the Virginia militia 
to advance under the command of Colonel 
Stevens, who cheerfully obeyed the orders of 
his commander-in-chief, and, when he had 
led his men within firing distance, urged them 
to charge the enemy with their bayonets. 
This portion of the American army did not, 
however emulate the gallantry of their lead- 
er. 

Lord Cornwallis, observing their movement, 
gave orders to Lieutenant-colonel Webster to 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 205 

attack them. The British infantry obeyed 
his lordship's commands with a loud cheer. 
The American militia, intimidated by this in- 
dication of determined daring, were panic- 
struck, and the Virginians and the Carolini- 
ans threw down their arms and hastened 
from the field. The right wing and the corps 
de reserve, however, maintained their position, 
and even gained ground upon the enemy; 
but Lord Cornwallis, taking advantage of a 
favorable moment, charged them with his 
cavalry, and put them completely to the rout. 

The victors captured the whole of the bag- 
gage and artillery of the Americans, who 
were pursued by the British cavalry for the 
space of twenty miles ; and so complete 
was their discomfiture, that on the second 
day after the engagement Gates could only 
muster 150 of his fugitive soldiers at Charles- 
ton, a town in the south of North Carolina, 
from whence he retreated still further north 
to Salisbury, and thence to Hillsborough. 
The sickliness of the season prevented Lord 
Cornwallis from pursuing the broken remains 
of the enemy's army ; but he employed the 
leisure now afforded him in inflicting ven- 
geance on such of the inhabitants of South 
Carolina as had been induced, by the pres- 
ence of Gates's army, to declare in his favor. 

The militiamen who had joined the repub- 
lican standard, and had fallen into his hands 
as prisoners, he doomed to the gallows. The 

18 



206 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

property of the fugitives, and of the declared 
friends of independence, he confiscated. These 
acts, though severe, were perhaps justifiable 
by the strictness of the laAV. But neither in 
law nor in honor could his lordship justify the 
seizure of a number of the principal citizens 
of Charleston, and most of the military offi- 
cers residing there under the faith of the late 
capitulation, and sending them to St. Augus- 
tine. 

Reduced to desperation by these injudicious 
severities, the bold and active among the dis- 
affected formed themselves into independent 
bands, under different chieftains, among whom 
Marion and Sumpter were distinguished by 
their spirit of enterprise. These harassed 
the scattered parties of the British, several 
of which they cut off; and by their move- 
ments the loyalists to the north of the Caro- 
linas were kept in check. Eight of these 
chieftains having united their forces, attacked 
Major Ferguson, who had been sent to the 
confines of the two provinces to assemble the 
friends of the British government, and killed 
or wounded 250 of his new levies, and took 
800 prisoners, Ferguson himself being among 
the slain. The American loss was about 
twenty. 

This success was followed by important 
results : Lord Cornwallis had marched into 
North Carolina in the direction of Salisbury ; 
but when he heard of the defeat and death 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 207 

of Ferguson, he retreated to Winnsborough 
in the southern province, being severely har- 
assed in his retrograde movement by the mi- 
litia and the inhabitants ; and when he re- 
tired into winter-quarters Sumpter still kept 
the field. 

In the mean time General Gates had col- 
lected another army, with which he advanced 
to Charlotte. Here he received intelligence 
that Congress had resolved to supersede him 
and to submit his conduct to a court of in- 
quiry. Mortified as he was by the ingrati- 
tude of his country, on the notification of this 
resolve of the supreme power he dutifully 
resigned his command. But on his way home 
from Carolina, his feelings were soothed by 
an address from the legislature of Virginia, 
assuring him that " the remembrance of his 
former glorious services could not be obliter- 
ated by any reverse of fortune." 

General Greene was now appointed to the 
command of the southern army. Gates, on 
receiving the intelligence, conducted with 
true philosophy and gallantry. He redoubled 
his efforts to improve the discipline and con- 
dition of the army, and on the arrival of 
Greene, in December, received him with cor- 
diality and friendship. 



208 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



SECTION XXXI. 

ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH AUXILIARIES UNDER RO- 
CHAMBEAU, IOtH OF JULY, 1780. 

While these events were occurring in the 
southern states, General Washington was 
obliged to confine himself to the irksome and 
inglorious task of watching, from his encamp- 
ment at Morristown, the motions of the Brit- 
ish on New York island, and of restraining 
their incursions into the adjacent country. 
Though the army opposed to him was les- 
sened by the detachment which Sir Henry 
Clinton led into South Carolina, his own forces 
were proportionably weakened by the rein- 
forcements which it was necessary for him to 
send to the American army in the same quar- 
ter ; and never did distress press more heavily 
upon him. 

The depreciation of the currency was at 
that time so great, that four months' pay of a 
private would not purchase a single bushel 
of wheat. His camp was sometimes desti- 
tute of meat, and sometimes of bread. As 
each state provided for its own quota of 
troops, no uniformity could be established in 
the distribution of provisions. This circum- 
stance aggravated the general discontent, 
and a spirit of mutiny began to display itself 
in two of the Connecticut regiments, which 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 209 

were witli difficulty restrained from forcing 
their way home at the point of the bayonet. 

Of these discontents the enemy endeavored 
to take advantage, by circulating in the 
American camp proclamations offering the 
most tempting gratifications to such of the 
continental troops as should desert the repub- 
lican colors and embrace the royal cause. 
But these offers were unavailing ; mutinous 
a,s they were, the malcontents abhorred the 
thought of joining the enemies of their coun- 
try ; and on the seasonable arrival of a fresh 
supply of provisions, they cheerfully returned 
to their duty. 

Soon after this, when General Knyphausen, 
who commanded the British forces in the ab- 
sence of Sir Henry Clinton, made an irrup- 
tion into Jersey, on the IGth of June, the 
whole American army marched out to oppose 
him ; and though he was reinforced by Sir 
Henry Clinton, who during this expedition 
had arrived from Charleston, he was compel- 
led to measure back his steps. Both the ad- 
vance and retreat of the German were mark 
ed b}^ the devastation committed by his troops, 
who burnt the town of Springfield, and most 
of the houses on their line of march. 

Alarmed by the representations made by 
General Washington of the destitute condi- 
tion of his army. Congress sent three mem- 
bers of their body with instructions to inquire 
into the condition of their forces, and with 



210 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

authority to reform abuses. These gentle- 
men fully verified the statement? of the com- 
mander-in-chief. No sooner was this fact 
known in the city of Philadelphia, than a 
subscription was set on foot for the relief of 
the suffering soldiers, which soon amounted 
to 300,000 dollars. Even the ladies of Phil- 
adelphia associated themselves for the pur- 
pose of administering to the necessities of the 
army, and, after subscribing with generous 
profusion from their own means, personally 
solicited the aid of others with rtiuch success. 

The above sum was intrusted to the dis- 
cretion of a well-chosen committee, who ap- 
propriated it to the purchase of provisions for 
the troops. The three commissioners also 
applied themselves diligently to the task of 
recruiting and re-organizing the army. They 
prescribed to each state the quota of forces 
which it was to contribute towards the rais- 
ing of 35,000 men, their deficiency in regulars 
being to be supplied by drafts from their re- 
spective militia. 

The states of New England, Pennsylvania, 
and Virginia, promptly listened to the call of 
their country, and made extraordinary efforts 
to furnish their several quotas of recruits. 
TJie other members of the Union exerted 
themselves to the best of their ability ; and 
though the general result of these exertions 
did not produce the number of troops which 
was deemed requisite for the public service, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 211 

more could not, in such circumstances, have 
been vvrell expected. 

The Congress were the more earnest in 
their wishes to put their army on a respecta- 
ble footing, as they were in expectation of 
the arrival of a body of auxiliary forces from 
France. This welcome aid appeared off 
Rhode Island on the 10th of July, 1780, on 
which day. Monsieur Ternay sailed into the 
harbor of Newport with a squadron of seven 
sail of the line, five frigates, and five schoon- 
ers, convoying a fleet of transports, having on 
board 6,000 men, under the command of the 
Count de Rochambeau. 

Admiral Arbuthnot, who had under his 
command, at New York, only four sail of the 
line, on hearing of the arrival of the French 
at Rhode Island, was apprehensive of being 
attacked by their superior force. But he was 
soon relieved from his fears by the vigilance 
of the British ministry, who, on the sailing of 
the French fleet from Europe, had sent to his 
assistance Admiral Graves, with six ships of 
the line. 

On receiving this reinforcement, he sailed 
for Rhode Island, for the purpose of encoun- 
tering the French squadron, while Sir Henry 
Clinton proceeded with 8,000 men to the 
north of Long Island, for the purpose of land- 
ing on the opposite part of the continent, and 
attacking their land forces. But the British 
Admiral found the enemy's ships so well se- 



212 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

cured by batteries and other land fortifica- 
tions, that he was obliged to content himself 
with blocking them up in their harbor ; and 
Clinton, receiving intelligence that General 
Washington was preparing to take advantage 
of his absence by making an attack upon 
New York, hastened back to the relief of 
that place. 



SECTION XXXII. 

TREASON OF ARNOLD, AND DEATH OF ANDBE 

Washington, on the retreat of General 
Clinton, withdrew to West Point, an almost 
impregnable position, situated about fifty 
miles to the northward of New York, on the 
Hudson river, by means of which he kept up 
a communication between the eastern and 
southern states ; and having occasion, to- 
wards the end of the month of September, 
to go to Rhode Island to hold a conference 
with the French admiral and Count Rocham- 
beau, he left the command of this important 
post to General Arnold, unconscious that in 
so doing, he intrusted the fortunes of the in- 
fant republic to a traitor. 

West Point was the most important post in 
the possession of the Americans. It had ac- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 213 

cordingly been fortified with great care and 
expense, and was the repository of the most 
valuable stores of the army; and at the time 
of Arnold's defection, it was the resting point 
upon which the fate of the American army 
turned. Had it fallen into the hands of the 
British, no sagacity nor courage could have 
saved the whole army in the middle states 
from being cut to pieces or captured in de- 
tail. 

The possession of the states of New York 
and New Jersey, the command of the great 
channels of intercourse between the states, a 
complete division of the remnants of the re- 
publican forces, and an efficient concentra- 
tion of those of Great Britain, must have 
been the frijiits of this treason, had it been 
successful. What might have been the ef- 
fects upon the progress of the war it is diffi- 
cult to imagine. The blow would have been 
disastrous. The value of the prize to the 
British induced them to enter eagerly into 
negotiation with the traitor, and offer a mu- 
nificent price for the treachery. 

Arnold was brave and hardy, but dissipated 
and profligate. Extravagant in his expenses, 
he had involved himself in debts, and having 
had, on frequent occasions, the administration 
of considerable sums of the public money, his 
accounts were so unsatisfactory, that he was 
liable to an impeachment on charges of pec- 
ulation. Much had been forgiven indeed, 



21^ AMEB^eAN REVOLUTION. 

and morL would probaby have been forgiven 
to his valor and military skill. But alarmed 
by the terrors of a guilty conscience, he de- 
termined to get rid of pecuniary responsibility 
by betraying his country ; and accordingly 
entered into a negotiation with Sir Henry 
Clinton, in which he engaged, when a proper 
opportunity should present itself, to make 
such a disposition of his troops as would en- 
able the British to make themselves masters* 
of West Point. 

The details of this negotiation were con- 
ducted by Major Andre, the adjutant-general 
of the British army, with whom Arnold car- 
ried on a clandestine correspondence, address- 
ing him under the name of Anderson, whilf 
he himself assumed that of Gustavus. T6 
facilitate their communications, the Vulture 
sloop of war was moved near to West Point ; 
and the absence of Washington seeming to 
present a fit opportunity for the final arrange- 
ment of their plans, on the night of the 21st 
of September, Arnold sent a boat to the Vul- 
ture to bring Andre on shore. 

That officer landed in his uniform between 
the posts of the two armies, and was met by 
Arnold, with whom he held a conference 
which lasted till daybreak, when it was too 
late for him to return to the vessel. In this 
extremity, unfortunately for himself, he al- 
lowed Arnold to conduct him within one of 
the American posts, where he lay concealed 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 215 

till the next night. In the mean time, the 
Vulture, having been incommoded by an 
American batter}^ had moved lower dovi^n 
the river, and the boatmen now refused to 
convey the stranger on board her. 

Being cut off from this way of escape, An- 
dre was advised to make for New York by 
land ; and, for this purpose, he was furnished 
with a disguise, and a passport signed by 
Arnold, designating him as John Anderson. 
He had advanced in safety near the British 
lines, when he was stopped by three New 
York militiamen. Instead of shov^^ing his 
pass to these scouts, he asked them " where 
they belonged to ?" and, on their answering 
" to below," meaning to New York, with sin- 
gular want of judgment, he stated that he 
was a British officer, and begged them to let 
him proceed without delay. 

The men, now throwing off the mask, 
seized him ; and, notwithstanding his offers 
of a considerable bribe if they would release 
him, they proceeded to search him, and found 
upon his person, papers which gave fatal evi- 
dence of his own culpability and of Arnold's 
treachery. These papers were in Arnold's 
handwriting, and contained exact and de- 
tailed returns of the state of the forces, ord- 
nance, and defences of West Point and its 
dependencies, with the artillery orders, criti- 
cal remarks on the works, an estimate of the 
number of men that were ordinarily on duty 



216 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

to man them, and the copy of a state of mat- 
ters that had, on the sixth of the month, been 
laid before a comicil of war by the command- 
er-in-chief. 

When Andre was conducted by his captors 
to the quarters of the commander of the 
scouting parties, still assuming the name of 
Anderson, he requested permission to write 
to Arnold, to inform him of his detention. 
This request was inconsiderately granted ; 
and the traitor, being thus apprized of his 
peril, instantly made his escape. At this mo- 
ment, Washington arriving at West Point, 
was made acquainted with the whole affair. 
Having taken the necessary precautions for 
the security of his post, he referred the case 
of the prisoner to a court-martial, consisting 
of fourteen general officers. 

Before this tribunal, Andre appeared with 
steady composure of mind. He voluntarily 
confessed all the facts of his case. Being 
interrogated by the board with respect to his 
conception of his coming on shore under the 
sanction of a flag, he ingenuously replied, 
that " if he had landed under that protection, 
he might have returned under it." The court, 
having taken all the circumstances of his 
case into consideration, unanimously concur- 
red in opinion, " that he ought to be considered 
as a spy ; and that, agreeably to the laws 
and usages of nations, he ought Xo suiFer 
death." 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 217 

Sir Henry Clinton, first by amicable nego- 
tiation, and afterwards by threats, endeavored 
to induce the American commander to spare 
the life of his friend ; but Washington did 
not think this act of mercy compatible with 
his duty to his country, and Andre was ordered 
for execution. He had petitioned to be al- 
lowed to die a soldier's death ; but this re- 
quest could not be granted. Of this circum- 
stance, however, he was kept in ignorance, 
till he saw the preparations for his final ca- 
tastrophe, when finding that the bitterness of 
his destiny was not to be alleviated as he 
wished, he exclaimed, " It is but a momen- 
tary pang !" and calmly submitted to his 
fate. 

Soon after this sad occurrence, Washing- 
ton, in writing to a friend, expressed himself 
in the following tenris : — " Andre has met his 
fate, and with that fortitude which was to be 
expected from an accomplished gentleman 
and a gallant officer ; but I am mistaken if 
Arnold is not undergoing, at this time, the 
torments of a mental hell." Whatever might 
be the feelings of the traitor, his treason had 
its reward. He was immediately appointed 
brigadier-general in the service of the king 
of Great Britain ; and, on his promotion, he 
had the folly and presumption to publish an 
address, in which he avowed, that, being dis- 
satisfied with the alliance between the United 
States and France, " he had retained his arms 

19 



218 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

and command for an opportunity to surrender 
them to Great Britain." 

This address was exceeded in meanness 
and insolence by another, in which he invited 
his late companions in arms to follow his ex- 
ample. The American soldiers read these 
manifestoes with scorn; and so odious did the 
character of a traitor, as exemplified in the 
conduct of Arnold, become in their estimation, 
that " desertion totally ceased among them at 
this remarkable period of the war."*' 

Circumstances, however, took place soon 
after the discovery of Arnold's treachery, 
which led that renegade to entertain delusive 
hopes that the army of Washington would 
disband itself The Pennsylvanian troops 
now serving on the Hudson, had been enlisted 
on the ambiguous terms of " serving three 
years, or during the continuance of the war." 
As the three years from the date of their en- 
rolment were expired, they claimed their dis- 
charge, which was refused by their officers, 
who maintained that the option of the two 
above-mentioned conditions rested with the 
state. 

Wearied out with privations, and indignant 
at what they deemed an attempt to impose 
upon them, the soldiers flew to arms, deposed 
their officers, and under the guidance of others 
whom they elected in their place, they quitted 

* Ramsay. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 219 

Morristown and marched to Princeton. Here 
they were solicited by the most tempting of- 
fers on the part of some emissaries sent to 
them by Sir Henry Clinton, to put themselves 
under the protection of the British govern- 
ment. But they were so far from listening 
to these overtures, that they arrested Sir 
Henry's agents, and their grievances having 
been redressed by the interposition of a com- 
mittee of Congress, they returned to their du- 
ty, and the British spies, having been tried 
by a board of officers, were condemned to 
death and executed. 

A similar revolt of a small body of the 
Jersey line was quelled by the capital pun- 
ishment of two of the ringleaders of the mu- 
tineers. The distresses which were the chief 
cause of this misconduct of the American 
soldiery, were principally occasioned by the 
depreciation of the continental currency ; 
which evil, at this period, effected its own 
cure, as the depreciated paper was by com- 
mon consent, and without any act of the legis- 
lature, put out of use ; and by a seasonable 
loan from France, and by the revival of trade 
with the French and Spanish West Indies, its 
place was speedily supplied by hard money. 

The principal cause of delusion on the sub- 
ject in the mind of Arnold was the singular 
fact, that Sergeant Champe, a high-minded 
patriot, was induced to feign a desertion from 
the army at West Point to join the British in 



220 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

New York, and then to seize Arnold and de- 
liver him over to Washington for merited 
punishment. No one save Lee, the com- 
manding officer at the post, and Washington 
was admitted into the secret ; and of course 
all others, Arnold and the patriots, looked up- 
on the affair as a sober reality. 

The preh'minaries were all adjusted in due 
order. The hour named for the desertion, 
eleven at night, arrived. The sergeant re- 
turned to the camp, and taking his cloak, va- 
lise, and orderly book, drew his horse from the 
picket, and mounting him, put himself upon 
a perilous adventure. The alarm was speed- 
ily given ; and within an hour or a little 
more, an organized party was in full pursuit 
of the supposed traitor. The chase was a 
vigorous one. At last, he abandoned his 
horse, cloak, and other equipments, and with 
great exertions ran for the river, into which 
he plunged, and then swam for the British 
galleys. 

His pursuers fired on him, but without ef- 
fect ; and he was received on board with 
great exultation. Forthwith he was convey- 
ed to New York, where he was admitted to 
the society and confidence of Arnold ; to 
whom, for the purpose of accomplishing his 
object, he made such representations, that 
Arnold might have imagined the whole patriot 
army was ready for desertion. Champe next 
enlisted in the British service, carrying on. 



AMERICAN E EVOLUTION. 221 

nowever, at the same time, a secret corres- 
pondence with the American commanding 
officer. The plan was matured for the res- 
toration of Arnold. The very night was fixed 
on for its consummation, and not a doubt ex- 
isted it would have succeeded, had not Arnold, 
on the very day previous, been ordered to a 
different part of the city. 



SECTION xxxiir. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1781 DEFEAT OF GREENE, BY LORD 

CORNWALLIS. 

Though the Spaniards and the Dutch had 
united with France in hostility against Brit- 
ain, she, with dauntless spirit, everywhere 
made head against her foreign enemies ; and 
his majesty's ministers were now, still more 
than ever, determined, by an extension of 
combined measures, to reduce the North 
American provinces to submission. The plan 
of the campaign of 1781, accordingly, com- 
prehended active operations in the states of 
New York, Georgia, South Carolina, and Vir- 
ginia. The invasion of the last-mentioned 
province was intrusted to Arnold, who, taking 
with him a force of about 1,600 men, and a 
number of armed vessels, sailed up the Ches- 
apeake, spreading terror and devastation 
wherever he came. 

• IJH 



222 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

An attempt to intercept him was made by 
the French fleet, which sailed from Rhode 
Island for that purpose ; but after an indeci- 
sive engagement with the squadron of Admi- 
ral Arbuthnot, off the capes of Virginia, was 
obliged to return to Newport, leaving the in- 
vaded province open to the incursions of the 
British, who, making occasional advances in- 
to the country, destroyed an immense quantity 
of public stores, and enriched themselves with 
an extensive plunder of private property, at 
the same time burning all the shipping in the 
Chesapeake and its tributary streams, which 
they could not conveniently carry away as 
prizes. 

The Carolinas also suffered severely by the 
scourge of war. When Gates was superseded 
in the command of the American forces i 
that district, he was succeeded by General 
Greene, to whose charge he transferred the 
poor remains of his army, which were col- 
lected at Charlotte, in North Carolina, and 
which amounted only to 2,000 men. These 
troops were imperfectly armed and badly 
clothed ; and such was the poverty of their 
military chest, that they were obliged to sup- 
ply themselves with provisions by forced re- 
quisitions made upon the inhabitants of the 
adjacent country. 

In these circumstances, to encounter the 
superior numbers of the enemy in pitched 
battle would have been madness. Greene. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 223 

therefore, resolved to carry on the war as a 
partisan officer, and to avail himself of every 
opportunity of harassing the British in detail. 
The first enterprise v^hich he undertook in 
prosecution of this system was eminently suc- 
cessful. Understanding that the inhabitants 
of the district of Ninety-six, who had submit- 
ted to the royal authority, were severely ha- 
rassed b3^ the licensed acts of plunder com- 
mitted by the king's troops and the loyalists, 
he sent General Morgan into that quarter 
with a small detachment, which was, on its 
arrival, speedily increased by the oppressed 
countrymen, who were burning for revenge. 

Lord Cornwallis, who was, at this moment, 
on the point of invading North Carolina, no 
sooner heard of this movement, than he sent 
Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton with 1,100 men, 
to drive Morgan out of the district. Tarleton 
was an excellent partisan officer, and had 
gained great reputation by his superior activ- 
ity, and by his success in various rencoun- 
ters with detached parties of the republican 
troops. 

This success, however, and the superiority 
of his numbers to those of Morgan's forces, 
caused him too much to despise the enemj^ 
In pursuance of Lord Cornwallis's orders, he 
marched in quest of his antagonist, and, on 
the evening of the 16th of January, 1781, he 
arrived at the ground which General Morgan 
had quitted but a few hours before. At two 



224 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

o'clock the next morning he recommenced his 
pursuit of the enemy, marching with extra- 
ordinary rapidity through a very difficult 
country, and at daylight he discovered the 
enemy in his Iront. From the intelligence 
obtained from prisoners who were taken by 
his scouting parties, he learned that Morgan 
awaited his attack at a place called the Cow- 
pens, near Pacolet river. 

Here the American commander had drawn 
up his little army, two thirds of which con- 
sisted of militia, in two lines, the first of 
which was advanced about two hundred yards 
before the second, with orders to form on the 
right of the second in case the onset of the 
enemy should oblige them to retire. The rear 
was closed by a small body of regular caval- 
ry, and about forty-five mounted militiamen. 
On the sight of this array, Tarleton ordered 
his troops to form in line. But before this 
arrangement was effected, that officer, obey- 
ing the dictates of valor rather than those of 
prudence, commenced the attack, heading his 
squadron in person. The British advanced 
with a shout, and assailed the enemy with a 
well-directed discharge of musketr}^ The 
Americans reserved their fire till the British 
were within forty or fifty yards of their ranks, 
and then poured among them a volley which 
did considerable execution. 

The British, however, undauntedly pushed 
on and swept the militia off the field. They 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 225 

then assailed the second line, and compelled 
it to fall back on the cavalry. Here the 
Americans rallied, and renew^ed the fight w^ith 
desperate valor : charging the enemy with 
fixed bayonets, they drove back the advance, 
and following up their success, overthrew the 
masses of their opponents as they presented 
themselves in succession, and finally won a 
complete and decisive victory. 

Tarleton fled from the bloody field, leaving 
his artillery and baggage in the possession of 
the enemy. His loss amounted to 300 killed 
and wounded, and 500 prisoners, while that 
of the Americans was only 12 killed and 60 
wounded. Immediately after the action. Gen- 
eral Greene sent off his prisoners, under a 
proper guard, in the direction of Virginia ; 
and as soon as he had made the requisite ar- 
rangements, he followed them with his little 
army. 

On receiving intelligence of Tarleton's dis- 
aster, Lord Cornwallis hastened in pursuit of 
the retreating enemy, and forced his marche?' 
with such effect, that he reached the Catawba 
river on the evening of the day on which 
Morgan had crossed it ; but here his progress 
was for a short while impeded, as a heavy 
fall of rain had rendered the stream impassa- 
ble. When the waters subsided, he hurried 
on, hoping to overtake the fugitives before 
they had passed the Yadkin ; but when he 
had arrived at the river, he found to his mor- 



226 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tification that they had crossed it, and had 
secured the craft and boats which they had 
used for that purpose on the eastern bank. 

He therefore marched higher up the stream, 
till he found the river fordable. While he 
was employed in this circuitous movement, 
General Greene had united his forces with 
those of Morgan, at Guildford Court-house. 
Still, however, the forces of the American 
commander were so inferior to those of his 
pursuers, that, not daring to risk an engage- 
ment, he hastened straight onwards to the 
river Dan ; while Lord Cornwallis, travers- 
ing the upper country, where the streams are 
fordable, proceeded, in the hope that he might 
gain upon the enemy, so as to overtake them, 
in consequence of their being obstructed in 
their progress by the deep water below. But 
so active was Greene, and so fortunate in 
finding the means of conveyance, that he 
crossed the Dan into Virginia, with his whole 
army, artillery, and baggage. So narrow, 
however, was his escape, that the van of 
Cornwallis's army arrived in time to witness 
the ferrying over of his rear. 

Mortified as Lord Cornwallis was by being 
thus disappointed of the fruits of this toilsome 
march, he consoled himself by the i-eflection 
that the American army being thus driven 
out of North Carolina, he was master of that 
province, and was in a condition to recruit 
hlis forces by the accession of the loyalists, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTIO-N. 227 

with whom he had been led to believe that it 
abounded. 

He therefore summoned all true subjects 
of his majesty to repair to the royal standard, 
which he had erected at Hillsborough. This 
experiment had little success. The friends of 
government were in general timid, and diffi- 
dent of his lordship's power ultimately to pro- 
tect them. Their terrors were confirmed, 
when they learned that the indefatigable 
Greene had recrossed the Dan, and had cut 
oiT a body of Tories who were on their march 
to join the royal forces, and that he had com- 
pelled Tarleton to retreat from the frontier 
of. the province to Hillsborough. For seven 
days, the American commander manoeuvred 
wdthin ten miles of the British camp ; and at 
the end of that time, having received rein- 
forcements from Virginia, he resolved to give 
Lord Cornwallis battle. 

The engagement took place on the 15th of 
March, at Guildford. The American army 
consisted of 4,400 men, and the British of 
only 2,400 ; but notwithstanding this disparity 
of numbers, disciplined valor prevailed. The 
American militia gave way with precipita- 
tion, and though the regulars fought with 
spirit, they were obliged to retreat, but only 
to the distance of three miles. Lord Corn- 
wallis kept the field, but he had suftered such 
loss in the action, that he was unable to fol- 
low up his victory, and soon afterwards 



228 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

marched towards Wilmington, leaving behind 
him his sick and wounded. On this march 
he was pursued by Greene as far as Deep 
river. 



SECTION XXXIV. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1781 CONTINUED DEFEAT OF LORD 

EAWDON, BY GENERAL GREENE. 

At Wilmington, Lord Cornwallis made a 
halt for three days for the purpose of gi^^ii'^g 
his troops some rest ; and at the end ol that 
time, resolving to carry the war into Virgi- 
nia, he marched to Petersburgh, an inland 
town of that province, situated on James 
river. Hither it was expected that he would 
have been followed by the enemy; but Greene 
being aware that his lordship had by this 
movement approached nearer to the main 
army of the Americans, and confident that 
his motions would be closely watched by the 
Virginia militia, after mature consideration 
adopted the bold measure of again penetrating 
into South Carolina. 

That province was in the military occupa- 
tion of the British,who were, indeed, harassed 
by the partisan troops of Marion and Sumpter, 
but were in such apparent strength, that there 
was reason to fear that the republicans, if not 
aided by further support^ would abandon the 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 229 

cause of their country in despair. The Brit- 
ish had formed chains of posts, which, extend- 
ing from the sea to the western extremity of 
the province, maintained a mutual communi- 
cation by strong patrols and bodies of horse. 
The first of these lines of defence was estab- 
lished on the Wateree, on the banks of which 
river the British occupied the well-fortified 
town of Camden, and Fort Watson, situated 
between that place and Charleston. 

The attack of the fort, Greene intrusted to 
Marion, who soon compelled its garrison to 
surrender on capitulation. In encountering 
Lord Rawdon, near Camden, Greene w^as not 
so fortunate. In consequence of the unsteadi- 
ness of a few of his troops, he was defeated, 
but moved off the ground in such good oder, 
that he saved his artillery, and though wound- 
ed, he took up a position, at the distance of 
about five miles from Camden, from which 
he sent out parties to intercept the supplies, 
of which he was apprized that his antagonist 
was in the utmost need. 

In consequence of the vigilance of Greene, 
in cutting off his resources, and of the loss of 
Fort Watson, which had been the link of his 
communication with Charleston, Lord Raw- 
don, after having in vain endeavored to bring 
on a second general engagement with the 
Americans, was reduced to the necessity of 
destroying apart of his baggage, and retreating 
to the south side of the river Santee. This ret- 

30 



230 AMERICAN REVDLUTION. 

rograde movement encouraged the friends of 
Congress to resume their arms, and hasten to 
reinforce the corps of Marion, who speedily 
made himself master of the British posts on 
the Congaree, the garrisons of which were in 
general made prisoners, while those which 
escaped that fate by a timely evacuation of 
their positions, made good their retreat to the 
capital of the province. 

Savannah river now presented the last line 
of defence held by the British, who there pos- 
sessed the town of Augusta and the post of 
Ninety-six. The former of those places was 
attacked by Lieutenant-colonel Lee, and after 
a defence of unprecedented obstinacy on the 
part of its commander. Colonel Brown, it sur- 
rendered on honorable terms. The important 
post of Ninety-six, commanded by Lieutenant- 
colonel Cruger, was strongly fortified, and de- 
fended by 500 men. 

On reconnoitering the place. General Greene, 
whose army was not much more numerous 
than the garrison, determined to besiege it in 
form. He accordingly broke ground on the 
25th of May, and pushed his works with such 
vigor, that he had approached within six yards 
of the ditch, and had erected a mound thirty 
feet high, from which his riflemen poured their 
shot with fatal aim upon the opposite parapet 
of the enemy, who were hourly expected to 
beat a parley. But this bright prospect of 
success was at once overclouded by the arri- 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 231 

val of intelligence that Lord Rawdon, having 
received reinlbrcements from Ireland, was 
hastening to the relief of his countrymen, at 
the head of 2,000 men. 

In this extremity, Greene made a desperate 
effort to carry the place by assault, but was 
repulsed, and evacuating the works which he 
had constructed with so much labor, he re- 
treated to the northward across the Saluda, 
from whence he was chased by Lord Rawdon 
beyond the Eimoree. 

The feelings of the American commander 
on seeing the fruit of his toils thus suddenly 
and unexpectedly torn from his grasp, must 
have been of a most agonizing nature. But 
Greene was gifted with an elasticity of spirit 
which prevented him from yielding to the 
pressure of misfortune, and his opponents 
seldom found him more dangerous than im- 
mediately after suffering a defeat. On the 
present occasion, when some of his counsel- 
lors, in the moment of despondency, advised 
him to retreat mto Virginia, he firmly replied, 
that " he would save South Carolina, or perish 
in the attempt." 

On maturely deliberating on the object of 
the campaign, and on the relative situation 
of himself and the enemy, he was well aware 
that though Lord Rawdon was superior to 
him in the number as well as the discipline 
of his troops ; yet, if his lordship kept his ar- 
my concentrated, he could afford no encour- 



23S AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

agement, or even protection, to the royalists, 
and that if it were divided, it might be beaten 
in detail. As he expected, the British com- 
mander, finding that he could not bring him 
to an engagement, took the latter com^se, and 
withdrawing a detachment from Ninety-six, 
re-established himself on the line of the Con- 
garee. 

Within two days, however, after his arrival 
at the banks of that river, he was astonished 
to find his indefatigable enemy in his front, 
with numbers so recruited, that he thought it 
prudent to decline the battle which was offer- 
ed him, and retreated to Orangeburgh, where 
he was joined by Lieutenant-colonel Cruger, 
who, in the present circumstances, had thought 
it expedient to evacuate his post at Ninety- 
six. On the junction of the forces of these 
two commanders, Greene retired to the heights 
above Santee, from v/hence he sent his active 
coadjutors, Marion and Sumpter, with strong 
scouting parties, to interrupt the commu- 
nication between Orangeburgh and Charles- 
ton. 

As a last effort to maintain their influence 
in the centre of the province, the British took 
post in force near the confluence of the Wa- 
teree and the Congaree ; but on the approach 
of Greene, they retreated for the space of 
forty miles, and waited his threatened attack 
at the Eutaw Springs. Here an obstinate 
engagement took place, in which the British 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 233 

were defeated with the loss of 1,100 men, 
and were compelled to abandon the province 
to the republicans, and take shelter in Charles- 
ton. 

Of all the incidents of the American revo- 
lutionary war, the most brilliant is this cam- 
paign of General Greene. At the head of a 
beaten army, undisciplined, and badly equip- 
ped, he entered the province of South Caro- 
lina, which was occupied, from its eastern to 
its western extremity, by an enemy much su- 
perior to him in numbers, in appointments, 
and in military experience. But by his genius, 
his courage, and his perseverance, he broke 
through their lines of operation, drove them 
from post to post, and though defeated in the 
field, he did not cease to harass them in de- 
tail, till he had driven them within the fortifi- 
cations of the capital. Well did he merit the 
gold medal and the British standard bestowed 
upon him by a vote of Congress, for his ser- 
vices on this occasion. By his successes he 
revived the drooping spirits of the friends of 
independence in the southern states, and pre- 
pared the way for the final victories which 
awaited the arms of his country in Virginia, 
and which led to the happy termination of 
the war. 

While the American commander was en- 
joying the honors bestowed upon him by his 
grateful countrymen, as the just meed of his 
valor and skill in arms, Lord Rawdon, soon 

20 



234 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

after his return to Charleston, by an example 
of severity, brought odium on the British 
cause, and fired the breasts of the continen- 
tals with indignation. Among the American 
officers, who distinguished themselves in the 
defence of South Carolina, was Col. Haynes, 
a gentleman of fortune, and of considerable 
influence in his neighborhood. 

After the capitulation of Charleston, Haynes 
voluntarily surrendered himself to the British 
authorities, requesting to be allowed his per- 
sonal liberty on his parole. This indulgence, 
usually granted to officers of rank, he could 
not obtain ; and was told that he must either 
take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic 
majesty, or submit to close confinement. In 
an evil hour, induced by family considera- 
tions, he chose the former alternative, and 
signed a declaration of fealty to George III., 
protesting, however, against the clause which 
required him to support the royal government 
with arms ; which clause, the officer who re- 
ceived his submission assured him it was not 
intended to enforce. The officer in question, 
no doubt in this assurance exceeded his au- 
thority, and Haynes was time after time sum- 
moned to join the royal standard. 

Regarding this as a breach of the contract 
into which he had entered with the British, he 
again took up arms on the side of indepen- 
dence, and having been taken prisoner in a 
skirmish with part of the royal forces, he 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 235 

was, without the formality of a trial, ordered 
for execution by Lord Rawdon. To the peti- 
tions of this unfortunate officer's children, as 
well as those of the inhabitants of Charles- 
ton, his lordship turned a deaf ear, and Haynes 
suffered death as a rebel and a traitor. 
Though the death of this gallant soldier may 
be vindicated by the strictness of the law, its 
policy was, in the existing circumstances, ex- 
tremely questionable. 



SECTION XXXV. 

FURTHER EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN PREPARATIONS 

FOR THE SIEGE OF NEW YORK. 

It has already been related that, after de- 
feating General Greene at Guildford, Lord 
Cornwallis marched to Petersburgh, in Vir- 
ginia. His lordship did not take this step 
without hesitation. He well knew the enter- 
prising character of his opponent, and was 
aware of the probability of his making an 
incursion into South Carolina. He flattered 
himself, however, that the forces which he 
had left in that province, under the command 
of Lord Rawdon, would suffice to keep the 
enemy in check. In this idea he was con- 
firmed by the result of the battle of Camden, 
and by the receipt of intelligence that three 



236 AMERICAN revolt: TION. 

British regiments, which had sailed from Cork, 
might be expected speedily to arrive at 
Charleston. 

No longer anxious, therefore, for the fate 
of South Carolina, he determined to march 
forward, in the confident hope of increasing 
his military renown by the conquest of Vir- 
ginia. He accordingly advanced with rapid- 
ity from Petersburgh to Manchester, on James 
river, with a view of crossing over from that 
place to Richmond, for the purpose of seizing 
a large quantity of stores and provisions, 
which had been deposited there by the Ameri- 
cans. But on his arrival at Manchester, he 
had the mortification to find that, on the day 
before, this depot had been removed by the 
Marquis de Lafayette, who, at the command 
of Congress, had hastened from the head of 
Elk to oppose him. 

Having crossed James river, at Westown, 
his lordship marched through Hanover coun- 
ty to the South Anna river, followed at a 
guarded distance by the marquis, wdio, in this 
critical contingency, finding his forces inferior 
to those of the e»nemy, wisely restrained the 
vivacity which is the usual characteristic of 
his age and country. But having effected a 
junction with General Wayne, which brought 
his numbers nearly to an equality with those 
of the British, and having once more, by a 
skilful mancEuvre, saved his stores, which had 
been removed to Albemarle old court-house, 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 237 

he displayed so bold a front, that the British 
commander fell back to Richmond, and thence 
to Williamsburg. 

On his arrival at the latter place, Lord 
Cornwallis received dispatches from Sir Hen- 
ry Clinton, requiring him instantly to send 
from his army a detachment to the relief of 
New York, which was threatened with a 
combined attack by the French and the 
Americans. The consequent diminution of 
his force induced his lordship to cross James 
river, and to march in the direction of Ports- 
mouth. Before, however, the reinforcements 
destined for New York had sailed, he received 
counter-orders and instructions from Sir Hen- 
ry Clinton, in pursuance of which he convey- 
ed his army, amounting to 7,000 men, to York- 
town, which place he proceeded to fortify with 
the utmost skill and industry. 

The object of Lord Cornwallis in thus post- 
ing himself at Yorktown, was to co-operate 
in the subjugation of Virginia with a fleet 
which he was led to expect would about this 
time proceed from the West Indies to the 
Chesapeake. While his lordship was anx- 
iously looking out for the British pennants, he 
had the mortification, on the 30th of August, 
to see the Count de Grasse sailing up the bay 
with twenty-eight sail of the line, three of 
which, accompanied by a proper number of 
frigates, were immediately dispatched to block 
up York river. 



238 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

The French vessels had no sooner anchor- 
ed,^ than they landed a force of 3,200 men, 
who, under the command of the Marquis de 
St. Simon, effected a junction with the army 
of Lafayette, and took post at Williamsburg. 
Soon after this operation, the hopes of the 
British were revived by the appearance off 
the Capes of Virginia, of Admiral Graves, 
with twenty sail of the line — a force which 
seemed to be competent to extricate Lord 
Cornwallis from his difficult position. 

These hopes, however, proved delusive. 
On the 7th of Septem^ber, M. de Grasse en- 
countered the British fleet, and a distant fight 
took place, in which the French seemed to 
rely more on their manoeuvring than on their 
valor. The reason of this was soon apparent. 
In the course of the night which followed the 
action, a squadron of eight line-of-battle ships 
safely passed the British, and joined De Grasse, 
in consequence of which accession of strength 
to the enemy. Admiral Graves thought it pru- 
dent to quit that part of the coast, and retire 
to New York. This impediment to their op- 
erations having been removed, the Americans 
and French directed the whole of their united 
efforts to the capture of Yorktown. 

This had not, however, been the original 
design of General Washington at the com- 
mencement of the campaign. Early in the 
spring he had agreed with Count Rocham- 
beau to lay siege to New York, in concert 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 239 

with a French fleet which was expected to 
reach the neighborhood of Staten Island in 
the month of August. He had accordingly- 
issued orders for considerable reinforcements, 
especially of militia, to join his army in proper 
time to commence the projected operations. 

The French troops under Rochambeau 
having arrived punctually at his encampment 
near Peekskill, General Washington advanced 
to King's bridge, and hemmed in the British 
in ISew York island. Every preparation 
seemed to be now in forwardness for the 
commencement of the siege ; but the militia 
came in tardily. The adjacent states were 
dilatory in sending in their quotas of troops ; 
and while he was impatiently awaiting their 
arrival, Washington had the mortification to 
receive intelligence that Clinton had received 
a reinforcement of 3,000 Germans. 

While his mind was agitated by disappoint- 
ment, and chagrined by that want of zeal on 
the part of the middle states which he ap- 

Erehended could not but bring discredit on 
is country, in the estimation of his allies, he 
was relieved from his distress by the news of 
the success of Greene in driving Lord Corn- 
wallis into Yorktown ; and at the same time 
learning that the destination of Count de 
Grasse was the Chesapeake, and not Staten 
Island, he resolved to transfer his operations 
to the state of Virginia. 
Still, however, he kept up an appearance 



240 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

of persevering in his original intention of 
making an attack upon New York, and in 
this feint he WdiS aided by the circumstance, 
that when this was in reality his design, a 
letter, in which he had detailed his plans for 
its prosecution, had been intercepted, and 
read by Sir Henry Clinton. When, therefore, 
in the latter end of August, he broke up his 
encampment at Peekskill, and directed his 
march to the south, the British commander, 
imagining that this movement was only a 
stratagem calculated to throw him off his 
guard, and that the enemy would speedily re- 
turn to take advantage of his expected neg- 
ligence, remained in his quarters, and re- 
doubled his exertions to strengthen his position. 
In consequence of this error, he lost the 
opportunity of impeding the march of the 
allied army, and of availing himself of the 
occasions which might have presented them- 
selves of bringing it to action before it could 
effect a junction with the troops already as- 
sembled in the vicinity of Yorktown. Thus 
marching onwards without molestation. Gen- 
eral Washington reached Williamsburg on 
the 14th of September, and immediately on 
his arrival, visiting the Count de Grasse on 
board his flag-ship, the Ville de Paris, settled 
with him the plan of their future operations. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 241 



SECTION XXXVI. 

SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, SURRENDER OF LORD CORN- 

WALLIS. 

In pursuance of this arrangement, the com- 
bined forces, to the amount of 12,000 men, 
assembled at Williamsburg on the 25th of 
September ; and on the 30th of the same 
month marched forward to invest Yorktow^n, 
while the French fleet, moving to the mouth 
of York river, cut off Lord Cornwallis from 
any communication with a friendly force by 
water. His lordship's garrison amounted to 
7,000 men, and the place was strongly forti- 
fied. On the right it was secured by a marshy 
ravine, extending to such a distance along 
the front of the defences as to leave them ac- 
cessible only to the extent of about 1,500 
yards. 

This space was defended by strong lines, 
beyond which, on the extreme left, were ad- 
vanced a redoubt and a bastion, which enfi- 
laded their approach to Gloucester Point, on 
the other side of York river, the channel of 
which is here narrowed to the breadth of a 
mile, which post was also sufficiently gar- 
risoned, and strongly fortified. Thus secured 
in his position. Lord Cornwallis beheld the 
approach of the enemy with firmness, espe- 
cially as he had received dispatches from Sir 

21 



242 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOIf. 

Henry Clinton, announcing his intention of 
sending 5,000 men in a fleet of 23 ships of the 
line to his relief 

The allied forces on their arrival from 
Williamsburg immediately commenced the 
investure both of Yorktown and of Glouces- 
ter Point ; and on the 10th of October they 
opened their batteries with such effect, that 
their shells, flying over the town, reached the 
shipping in the harbor, and set fire to the 
Charon frigate, and to a transport. On this 
inauspicious day, too. Lord Cornwallis re- 
ceived a communication from Sir Henry 
Clinton, conveying to him the unwelcome in- 
telligence that he doubted whether it would 
be in his power to send him the aid which he 
had promised. 

On the following morning the enemy com- 
menced their second parallel, and finding 
themselves, in this advanced position, severe- 
ly annoyed by the bastion and redoubt which 
have been mentioned above, they resolved to 
storm them. The reduction of the former of 
these works was committed to the French, 
while the attack of the latter was intrusted 
to the Americans. Both parties rushing to 
the assault with the spirit of emulation which 
this arrangement was calculated to inspire, 
the works in question were speedily carried 
at the point of the bayonet. 

It must be mentioned to the honor of the 
American soldiers, that though in revenge for 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 243 

a massacre recently committed at New Lon- 
don, in Connecticut, by a body of troops un- 
der the command of the renegade Arnold, 
they had been ordered to take no prisoners, 
they forebore to compl}^ with this requisition, 
and when they had penetrated into the re- 
doubt, spared every man who ceased to resist. 
On the 16th of (Sctober, a sally was made 
from the garrison, but with indifferent suc- 
cess ; and Lord Cornwallis was now convin- 
ced that he could avoid surrender, only by ef- 
fecting his escape by Gloucester Point. 

Seeing himself, therefore, reduced to the 
necessity of trying this desperate expedient, 
he prepared as many boats as he could pro- 
cure, and on the night of the 16th of October 
attempted to convey his army over York 
river to the opposite promontory. But the 
elements were adverse to his operations. 
The first division of his troops was disem- 
barked in safety ; but when the second was 
on its passage, a storm of wind and rain arose, 
and drove it down the river. 

Though this second embarkation worked 
its way back to Yorktown on the morning of 
the 17th, Lord CornwalHs was convinced, 
however unwillingly, that protracted resist- 
ance was vain. No aid appeared from New 
York — his works were ruined — the fire from 
the enemy's batteries swept the town ; and 
sickness had diminished the efiective force of 
the garrison. In these painful circumstances, 



244 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

nothing remained for him but to negotiate 
terms of capitulation. He accordingly sent 
a flag of truce, and having agreed to give up 
his troops as prisoners of war to Congress, 
and the naval force to France, he, on the 19th 
of October, marched out of his lines with 
folded calors ; and proceeding to a field at a 
short distance from the t(5wn, he surrendered 
to General Lincoln, with the same formalities 
which had been prescribed to that officer at 
Charleston, eighteen months before. 

Another coincidence was remarked on this 
occasion. The capitulation under which Lord 
Cornwallis surrendered was drawn up by 
Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, whose father had 
filled the office of President of Congress, and 
having been taken prisoner when on his voy- 
age to Holland, in quality of ambassador from 
the United States to the Dutch republic, had 
been consigned, under a charge of high trea- 
son, to a rigorous custody in the Tower of 
London, of which fortress his lordship was 
constable. 

Had Lord Cornwallis been able to hold out 
five days longer than he did, he might possi- 
bly have been relieved ; for, on the 24th of 
October, a British fleet, conveying an army 
of 7,000 men, arrived off" the Chesapeake ; 
but finding that his lordship had already sur- 
rendered, this armament returned to New 
York and Sandy Hook. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 245 



SECTION XXXVII. 

PROVISIONAL TREATY OF PEACE, 30tH OF NOVEM- 
BER, 1782. 

It was with reason that the Congress passed 
a vote of thanks to the captors of Yorktown, 
and that they went in procession, on the 24th 
of October, to celebrate the triumph of their 
arms, by expressing, in the solemnities of a 
religious service, their gratitude to Almighty 
God for this signal success. The surrender 
of Lord Cornwallis was the virtual termina- 
tion of the war. From this time forward, to 
the signature of the treaty of peace, the Brit- 
ish were cooped up in New York, Charleston, 
and Savannah. From these posts they now 
and then, indeed, made excursions for the 
purpose of foraging and plunder ; but being 
utterly unable to appear in force in the inte- 
rior of the country, they found themselves in- 
competent to carry on any operations calcu- 
lated to promote the main object of the war — ■ 
the subjugation of the United States. 

Perseverance, however, still seemed a vir- 
tue to the British cabinet. Immediately after 
the arrival of the intelligence of the capture 
by the Americans of a second British army, 
George III. declared, in a speech to parlia- 
ment, " that he should not answer the trust 
committed to the sovereign of a free people, 

21* 



246 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

if he consented to sacrifice, either to his own 
desire of peace, or to their temporary ease 
and relief, those essential rights and perma- 
nent interests, upon the maintenance and 
preservation of which the future strength and 
security of the country must forever depend." 

When called upon in the House of Com- 
mons for an explanation of this vague and 
assuming language, Lord North avowed that 
it was the intention of ministers to carry on 
in North America " a war of posts ;" and such 
was, at that moment,* the state of the house, 
that, in despite of the eloquence of Mr. Fox, 
who labored to demonstrate the absurdity of 
this new plan, a majority of 218 to 129 con- 
curred in an address which was an echo of 
his majesty's speech. 

But the loud murmurs of the people, groan- 
ing beneath the weight of taxation, and indig- 
nant under a sense of national misrule, at 
length penetrated the walls of the senate- 
house. Early in the j^ear 1 782, motion after 
motion was made in the House of Commons, 
expressive of the general wish for the termi- 
nation of hostilities with the United States. 
The minister held out with obstinacy, though 
on each renewal of the debate, he saw his 
majority diminish ; till at length, on the 27th 
of February, on a motion of General Conway, 
expressly directed against the further prose- 

* Nov. 27, 1781. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 247 

cutioii of offensive war on the continent of 
North America, he was left in a minority of 
nineteen. 

This victory was followed up by an address 
from the house to his majesty, according to 
the tenor of General Conway's motion. To 
this address, so equivocal an answer was re- 
turned by the crown, that the friends of paci- 
fication deemed it necessary to speak in still 
plainer terms ; and on the 4th of March, the 
House of Commons declared that whosoever 
should advise his majesty to any further pro- 
secution of offensive war against the colonies 
of North America, should be considered as a 
public enemy. 

This was the death-blow to Lord North^s 
administration. His lordship retired from 
office early in the month of March, and was 
succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, 
the efforts of whose ministry w^ere as much 
and as cordially directed to peace as those of 
Lord Shelburne's- On the death of the mar- 
quis, which took place soon ai'ter he had as- 
sumed the reins of government, the Earl of 
Shelburne was called on to preside over his 
majesty's councils, which, under his auspices, 
were directed to the great object of pacifica- 
tion. To this all the parties interested were 
well inclined. The English nation was weary 
of a civil war in which it had sustained so 
many discomfitures. The king of France, 
who had reluctantly consented to aid the in- 



248 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

fant republic of North America, was mortified 
by the destruction of the fleet of De Grasse, in 
the West Indies, and found the expenses of 
the war press heavily on his finances. The 
Spaniards were disheartened by the faikire 
of their efforts to repossess themselves of Gib- 
raltar ; and the Dutch were impatient under 
the suspension of their commerce. 

Such being the feelings of the belligerents, 
the negotiations for a peace between Great 
Britain and the United States were opened 
at Paris, by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald 
on the part of the former power, and by John 
Adams, Doctor Franklin, John Jay, and Henry 
Laurens, on behalf of the latter. These ne- 
gotiations terminated in provisional articles 
of peace, which were signed on the 30th of 
November, 1782. By this important instru- 
ment, the independence of the thirteen prov- 
inces was unreservedly acknowledged by his 
Bri-tannic majesty, who moreover conceded to 
them an unlimited right of fishing on the 
Banks of Newfoundland and the river St. 
Lawrence, and all other places where they 
had been accustomed to fish. All that the 
British plenipotentiaries could obtain for the 
American loyalists was, a provision that Con- 
gress should earnestly recommend to the 
legislatures of the respective states the most 
lenient consideration of their case, and a res- 
titution of their confiscated property. 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 249 



SECTION XXXVIIL 



CONCLUSION. 

Thus terminated the American revolution- 
ary war — a war which might have been pre- 
vented by the timely concession of freedom 
from internal taxation, as imposed by the 
British parliament, and by an abstinence on 
the part of the British government from a 
violation in this important particular of char- 
tered rights. The confidential letters of Dr. 
Franklin evince that it was with extreme re- 
luctance thg American patriots adopted the 
measure of severing the colonies from the 
mother country. But when they had taken 
this decisive step, by the declaration of inde- 
pendence, they firmly resolved to abide by 
the consequences of their own act ; and, with 
the single exception of Georgia, never, even 
in the most distressful contingencies of the 
war, did any public body of the provinces 
show any disposition to resume their allegi- 
ance to the king of Great Britain- 
Still, it may be a matter of doubt if, when we 
consider the conduct of the inhabitants of the 
Jerseys, when Washington was flying before 
General Howe, whether, had the British officers 
restrained their troops with the strictness of 
discipline, and exercised towards the Ameri- 
cans the kind spirit evinced in Canada by 



250 AMERICAN REVOLUTfON. 

Sir Guy Carleton, the fervor oi' resistance i 
might not have been abated anr* subdued. , 
But civil wars are always conducted with i 
cruelty and rancor. The Americans were i 
treated by the British soldiery, not as enemies ■ 
entitled to the courtesies of war, but as rebels, 
whose lives and property lay at the mercy of 
the victors. Hence devastation marked the 
track of the invading forces, while the inhab- ■ 
itants found their truest safety in resistance, 
and their best shelter in the republican camp. 

Nor will he who reads with attention the 
minute details of this eventful contest, be sur- 
prised that the British ministry persevered in 
the war when success might have appeared 
to be hopeless. It is now well- known that 
George III. revolted from the idea of conces- 
sion to his disobedient subjects, and was de- 
termined to put all to the hazard rather than 
acknowledge their independence. Lord North, 
at an early period of the war, had misgivings ^ 
as to its ultimate success, but he had not firm- 
ness enough to give his sovereign unwelcome 
advice ; while Lord George Germaine and the 
other ministers fully sympathized with the 
royal feelings, and entered heartily into the 
views of their master. 

They were apprised, from time to time, of 
the destitute condition of the American army, , 
but living as they did in luxury, and familiar- 
ized as they were with the selfishness and 
venality of courts and political parties, they 



AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 251 

could not conceive the idea of men sacrificing 
health, property, and life, for their couAtry's 
good. When Washin^o'ton was beaten in the 
field, such men imagiiuvl that the affairs of 
the Congress were de^rperate, and flattered 
themselves that the great body of the colonists, 
wearied and disheartened by successive de- 
feats, would be glad to accept the royal mer- 
cy, and to return to their allegiance. 

In these notions they were confirmed by the 
loyalists, who, giving utterance to their wishes, 
rather than stating the truth, afforded the 
most incorrect representations of the feelings 
and temper of their countrymen. Some of 
these coming over to England were received 
with favor in high circles, and by their insin- 
uations kept up to the last a fatal delusion. 
These individuals at length fell the victims of 
their own error. Traitors to their country, 
they lost their property by acts of confiscation, 
and while they lived on the bounty of the 
British crown, they had the mortification to 
see the country which they had deserted, rise 
to an exalted rank among the nations of the 
earth. 

It must also be admitted that the people of 
England sympathized with their government 
up to a late period, in the feelings which 
prompted perseverance in this iniquitous war. 
Excessive loyalty to the crown ; a certain 
undefined appetite for military achievements ; 
resentment against the Americans for ques- 



252 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

tioning British supremacy, strongly impressed 
the public mind, and rendered the war dis- 
gracefully popular in many quarters. Such 
sentiments were fostered and encouraged by 
the accession of France, Spain, and Holland 
to the cause of her revolted states, and the 
prospect of naval victories. We may reason- 
ably indulge the hope that the lesson then, 
and during the French revolutionary war, 
taught by experience, and the subsequent 
improvement of the public mind, will prevent 
it from ever again joining its government in 
such a conspiracy against freedom and justice. 
When the ministers of the king of France 
incited their master to enter into an alliance 
with the revolted colonies, they did so under 
the idea that the separation of those provin- 
ces from the parent state would ruin the re- 
sources of Great Britain. Events have proved 
how erroneous was their calculation. From 
her commercial intercourse with independent 
America, Great Britain has derived more 
profit than she could have gained had her 
growth been stunted by the operation of re- 
strictive laws. 



THE END 






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